Rivera Lujan v. FMCSA

On September 29, 2025, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) issued an a new regulation — immediately in effect — that bars asylum seekers, refugees, and Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipients with work authorization from holding commercial driver’s licenses. As a result, nearly 200,000 people currently working as commercial drivers will lose their licenses — and their livelihoods. These drivers include truck drivers, school bus drivers, delivery-van drivers, trash truck drivers. and others.

Representing DACA recipient Jorge Rivera Lujan, asylum seeker Aleksei Semenovskii, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees (AFSCME), and the American Federation of Teachers (AFT), Public Citizen filed a petition in the D.C. Circuit to challenge both the substance of the rule and FMCSA’s failure to follow rulemaking procedures required by law. On October 24, 2025, in light of the immediate harm caused by the rule, we filed an emergency motion to stay the rule while the litigation is ongoing. On November 10, the D.C. Circuit administratively stayed the rule pending its decision on the emergency motion to stay, and on November 13 the court issued a stay pending appeal.