“54% of North Carolina commercial driver’s licenses were issued illegally to foreign nationals.”
RNC falsely says 54% of NC’s commercial driver licenses were issued illegally to noncitizens
If your time is short
- The Republican National Committee based its numbers on a sampling — not a full accounting — of commercial driver’s licenses issued in North Carolina.
- The North Carolina DMV says 8,540, or about 2.6% of its 325,114 active CDLs, were issued to noncitizens.
- Of the 8,540 CDLs issued to noncitizens, 1,149 were issued incorrectly, but not to immigrants in the U.S. illegally.
Republicans are accusing Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Roy Cooper of mismanaging the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles while he was governor.
Cooper is running for the seat being vacated by U.S. Sen. Thom Tillis, R-NC, who isn’t seeking reelection. Cooper faces Republican Michael Whatley in a race that could help determine party control of the U.S. Senate. Green Party candidate Michael Dublin and Libertarian Shannon Bray are also running.
The Republican National Committee, which Whatley chaired prior to his Senate run, targeted Cooper in a Sept. 2 social media post.
“54% of North Carolina commercial driver’s licenses were issued illegally to foreign nationals,” the RNC Research’s account posted, adding: “More Americans are put in harm’s way every day because of Democrat Governor Roy Cooper.”
Is it true that more than half of North Carolina’s commercial driver’s licenses were issued illegally to foreign nationals?
No. That’s a misleading figure based on an incomplete data sample. Only a fraction of 1% of the state’s CDLs were incorrectly issued to noncitizens, according to records from the North Carolina DMV, and none of the drivers who received them were in the country illegally.
Where the RNC got its number
Last year, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration — a division of the U.S. Department of Transportation — reviewed commercial drivers licenses, or CDLs, issued in 25 states and discovered errors in North Carolina’s database.
The administration looked at a sample of CDLs issued to 50 noncitizens. Of those 50 CDLs, the administration found that 27 of the records — or 54% of the sample — failed to comply with federal law for issuing CDLs.
For instance, in 19 of the cases, the DMV issued CDLs that were valid longer than the license-holder was allowed to reside in the U.S. In eight of the cases, the federal agency found the state DMV issued licenses without verifying that the driver was legally allowed in the U.S.
The U.S. Department of Transportation outlined its findings in a Jan. 8 letter to North Carolina’s DMV, calling on state leaders to take corrective action or risk losing federal funding. U.S. Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy announced that he would withhold $50 million from North Carolina if the state didn’t fix the problems identified in the letter.
“North Carolina’s failure to follow the rules isn’t just shameful — it’s dangerous,” Duffy said in a statement calling on the state’s DMV administrators to “clean up their system.”
What full records show
The North Carolina DMV responded by reviewing all of its licenses issued to noncitizens, said Marty Homan, a spokesperson for the North Carolina DMV. Among its 325,114 active CDLs, the state found that 8,540 — or about 2.6% — had been issued to noncitizens, Homan said.
Among the noncitizens’ licenses, 1,149 — or about 0.35% of all CDLs — had administrative errors, but none were issued to immigrants in the country illegally. The primary issue with more than 900 of the 1,149 licenses with issues: a discrepancy between the license’s expiration date and the driver’s U.S. work authorization expiration date, Homan said.
If the DMV’s review found that a CDL wasn’t issued correctly, the agency downgraded the driver’s license. The DMV also mailed the driver a letter to say that his license would be canceled entirely if he didn’t visit a DMV office to rectify the issue within 20 days, Homan said.
The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration on July 21 approved the DMV’s plan for correcting the issues. As a result, federal funds for North Carolina’s transportation projects are no longer in jeopardy, Homan said.
In a July 21 letter to the DMV, the federal agency said it “acknowledges the actions the State has taken to address previously issued non-compliant licenses” and “appreciates North Carolina’s continued efforts to address the deficiencies identified.”
After PolitiFact shared the state DMV’s statements with the RNC, the organization credited the Trump administration for the changes, saying in an email that “Roy Cooper’s Democrat buddies caved to Republicans’ pressure and cleaned up their act.”
Our ruling
The RNC said that “54% of North Carolina commercial driver’s licenses were issued illegally to foreign nationals.”
That’s wrong. A thorough review of North Carolina’s 325,000-plus CDLs found that 1,149 — or 0.35% — were issued incorrectly to noncitizens, state officials said, and none of the drivers were in the country illegally. The RNC drew its figure from a sampling of commercial driver’s licenses issued in North Carolina, but it misconstrued the number’s meaning.
We rate the RNC’s claim False.
Our Sources
X post by the Republican National Committee on Sept. 2, 2026.
Email correspondence with Emma Hall, spokesperson for the Republican National Committee.
Email correspondence with Marty Homan, spokesperson for the North Carolina Division of Motor Vehicles.
Letter from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to Paul Tine, commissioner of the North Carolina DMV, on Jan. 8, 2026.
Letter from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration to the North Carolina DMV on July 21, 2026.
WRAL, “Trump threatens $50 million in funds for NC roads over immigrant concerns,” Jan. 8, 2026.
Press release by the U.S. Department of Transportation on Jan. 8, 2026.
