Tennessee Becomes Latest Target in Duffy’s CDL Compliance Crackdown

Tennessee Becomes Latest Target in Duffy’s CDL Compliance Crackdown

Rob Carpenter

Sun, January 11, 2026 at 12:50 PM UTC

3 min read

Tennessee is now on the board.

The state’s Department of Safety and Homeland Security announced this week that roughly 8,800 commercial driver’s license holders will receive letters requiring them to provide proof of U.S. citizenship or lawful presence. Drivers who fail to respond by April 6, 2026, will have their CDL privileges stripped and their credentials downgraded to a standard non-commercial license.

This is not about non-domiciled drivers or recent license issuances. Tennessee is reaching back into legacy files to target CDL holders who obtained their credentials before the current federal documentation requirements took effect. These are drivers who have been working legally under licenses valid when issued, but now do not meet the documentation standards that the Trump administration is demanding states enforce.

The state has approximately 150,000 CDL holders. The 8,800 affected drivers represent just under 6% of that total, but for them, the consequences are immediate and serious. Lose your CDL, lose your job.

Tennessee’s action did not happen in a vacuum. The U.S. Department of Transportation, under Secretary Sean Duffy, has been systematically pressuring states to tighten CDL issuance and documentation practices, backing those demands with threats to withhold federal transportation funding.

California has been the most visible target, with FMCSA ordering an immediate pause on all non-domiciled CLP and CDL processing back in September. That enforcement action remains in effect with no end date, and the Chinese American Truckers Association filed a federal lawsuit earlier this week challenging both the federal directive and the California DMV’s implementation of it.

California was never going to be the only state in the crosshairs. The administration has made clear that CDL compliance is a priority tied to broader immigration enforcement objectives. Tennessee officials explicitly referenced the presidential directive as the driver behind this records cleanup.

Affected drivers will receive notification by mail. If you hold a Tennessee CDL and do not receive a letter, no action is required on your part.

Those who do receive notice must appear in person at a state driver’s services center and provide acceptable documentation. That means a U.S. passport, certified birth certificate, certificate of naturalization, or other approved documents establishing citizenship or lawful presence.

The deadline is April 6, 2026. There is no indication of any extension or alternative compliance pathway for drivers who cannot meet that date.

Tennessee officials framed the action as a records modernization effort rather than an enforcement crackdown. The messaging emphasized that many affected drivers obtained their licenses before the current documentation rules were in place and simply need to update their files. Whether drivers on the receiving end of downgrade notices see it the same way remains to be seen.

What we are watching unfold is a state-by-state compliance campaign with real consequences for working drivers.

California’s non-domiciled program got hit first and hardest, with an indefinite processing freeze that has stranded thousands of qualified drivers. Tennessee is taking a different approach, giving existing CDL holders a deadline to prove their status rather than freezing all processing. Other states are almost certainly reviewing their own files and procedures right now, trying to get ahead of federal scrutiny before it arrives.

The common thread is that drivers are bearing the operational burden of compliance disputes between federal and state agencies. A Tennessee driver who obtained a CDL fifteen years ago under the rules that existed at the time now has to take time off work, gather documentation, and visit a state office in person to keep the credential they have held for over a decade.

For drivers with questions about the Tennessee requirements, the state has provided a contact email at cdl.division@tn.gov.

The Duffy enforcement campaign is just getting started. Tennessee will not be the last state to feel the pressure.

The post Tennessee Becomes Latest Target in Duffy’s CDL Compliance Crackdown appeared first on FreightWaves.

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