Federal auditors found violations in 60 of 123 Texas non-domiciled commercial driver’s license files, according to an October 23, 2025, Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration letter.
That is 49% of the sample, not 49% of every non-domiciled CDL or every commercial license issued in Texas.
In this review, non-domiciled CDLs were Texas commercial licenses for drivers whose permanent legal home was outside Texas. Their eligibility depended on proof of lawful U.S. presence, and the licenses could not outlast that authorization under federal rules.
FMCSA began the review in August 2025 and examined transactions from June 2024 through August 2025. The finding was previously reported on by The Dallas Express.
Most errors involved expiration dates
All 60 files contained validity-period violations. A failed Texas manual process left the normal five- or eight-year expiration date on 56 licenses instead of the shorter federal term, FMCSA found.
The other four files also had document problems. Texas processed three while employment-authorization checks were pending and used unacceptable documents in a fourth, FMCSA found. The letter does not establish that any of the four applicants lacked lawful immigration status.
FMCSA ordered the Texas Department of Public Safety to review every unexpired credential, fix its system and training, identify misclassified licenses, and void or rescind those still noncompliant.
DPS corrected or reissued nine sampled credentials. It shortened a tenth, but the new date still extended beyond the driver’s employment authorization, the federal letter shows.
Public records reviewed through Saturday, September 12, do not show final outcomes for that file or the other 50. They also lack a complete canceled, downgraded, corrected or unchanged breakdown for the 60 files.
Texas revoked 6,407 privileges statewide
DPS halted non-domiciled CDL transactions on September 29, 2025. The move supported its “ongoing commitment to keeping Texas roads safe,” the department said in an announcement. Texas began mailing revocation notices on December 8, 2025, according to its status page.
Texas had revoked 6,407 commercial-driving privileges statewide by May 11, 2026, The Texas Tribune reported. More than 3,300 expired credentials remained subject to review if their holders sought renewal. Public records through September 12 do not link those statewide totals to the 123-file sample.
Texas resumed issuing qualifying H-2A temporary agricultural worker licenses on June 1, 2026, with federal approval, a DPS announcement said. New transactions received next-business-day review, DPS told lawmakers at an August 25, 2026, hearing.
Texas remained on FMCSA’s public list of states with preliminary substantial-noncompliance findings as of September 12, according to the agency’s online record.
Crash records show no tie to sampled files
No federal or state record reviewed by The Dallas Express ties a sampled driver to a serious crash or enforcement action. The separate 2021 transaction below falls outside the sample, and the federal crash report does not say the licensing error caused the crash.
A separate 2021 Texas licensing error involved Solomun Weldekeal-Araya. Texas issued him a standard CDL through January 2030, although his application supported a non-domiciled license only through October 2022, according to a National Transportation Safety Board report.
Weldekeal-Araya later drove the tractor-trailer in a March 13, 2025, Interstate 35 crash in Austin that killed five people. His medical certificate expired on February 23, 2025. Three of five roadside inspections since 2023 placed him out of service for false-duty-status or logbook violations.
A Travis County grand jury indicted Weldekeal-Araya on 22 second-degree felony counts, including five manslaughter counts, the district attorney’s office announced. The charges are allegations, and he is presumed innocent unless proved guilty.
State comparisons are limited
FMCSA found violations in 107 of 200 sampled New York files, or 53.5%, and 38 of 145 sampled California files, or 26.2%. The agency used different review periods and selection methods, so the figures do not support a statewide ranking.
Provided by Dallas Express
