The Federation for American Immigration Reform (FAIR) filed a new lawsuit on Wednesday, October 28, 2026, against the New York State Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV), accusing the agency of unlawfully refusing to release basic records about its commercial driver's license (CDL) program. The case, filed in New York Supreme Court in Albany County under Index No. 912789-26, challenges the DMV's June 29, 2026 decision upholding a blanket denial of FAIR's Freedom of Information Law (FOIL) request.

Source: PR Newswire (FAIR announcement)

At the centre of the case is a records request FAIR first filed on October 15, 2025 — more than a year ago. FAIR says it asked only for aggregate statistics and internal policies, not for any individual driver's personal file. The DMV, according to FAIR's announcement, delayed for months, then invoiced the group more than $2,000 to process four of the five requested items, accepted the payment, and then reversed course and denied the entire request on May 8, 2026.

Exactly what records FAIR asked for

The FOIL request sought five categories of information: how often CDL knowledge tests are given in languages other than English and their pass and fail rates; the number of non-domiciled CDLs issued to U.S. citizens compared with non-citizens; skills-test outcomes for applicants who took the knowledge test in a language other than English; the number of non-domiciled CDLs and commercial learner's permits issued to applicants recorded as “no name given”; and the DMV's policies for handling incomplete applications, including applications with no name or with expired proof of lawful presence or work authorization.

Why FAIR says the DMV refused

On appeal, according to FAIR, the DMV stood by the denial on two grounds. First, FAIR says the agency argued that a state statute barring disclosure of DMV records to federal immigration-enforcement agencies should be extended to FAIR because the group is “ideologically aligned” with those agencies — even though, FAIR says, the DMV acknowledged FAIR is a private nonprofit with no enforcement authority. Second, FAIR says the agency treated routine licensing statistics and internal policies as exempt law-enforcement records, without identifying any investigation that disclosure would harm. The DMV's own side of the argument has not been published in the announcements and coverage reviewed for this report, and the claims above are FAIR's account of the denial, not a court finding.

“The New York DMV has now spent more than a year inventing new reasons to hide basic information about how it licenses the drivers of tractor-trailers and buses,” said Dale Wilcox, FAIR's executive director and general counsel. “First they delayed. Then they demanded payment. Then they claimed that we are functionally an immigration enforcement agency and that ordinary licensing statistics are secret law-enforcement materials. New Yorkers and the rest of the country have a right to know whether the DMV is complying with federal safety standards. Stonewalling does not make the roads safer.”

Mateo Forero, FAIR's director of investigations, said other states produced the same categories of records. “New York's response has been a master class in evasion,” Forero said. “We will continue to fight for the transparency the public is entitled to under FOIL, and we will keep pressing for accountability on a licensing system that has already cost American lives.” Both statements are FAIR's characterisation of the dispute; the lawsuit itself will now test them in court.

The background: a national fight over non-domiciled CDLs

The lawsuit follows FAIR's August 2026 investigative report, titled “License to Kill,” which — according to FAIR — documented more than 30 deaths in 2025 in crashes involving foreign-national CDL holders and detailed what it described as widespread state noncompliance with federal licensing standards. The report highlighted New York's issuance of more than 32,000 non-domiciled CDLs and a U.S. Department of Transportation finding, cited by FAIR, that a majority of sampled New York credentials did not comply with federal rules — a finding FAIR says led to tens of millions of dollars in federal highway funds being withheld from the state. Those figures come from FAIR's report and announcement; they are presented here as FAIR's claims in an active policy dispute, not as independently audited numbers.

This is also the second round of litigation between the same parties. FAIR's earlier lawsuit against the DMV was resolved by a June 2026 settlement that, according to FAIR, expressly preserved its right to challenge any later denial of the underlying FOIL request — the right it is now exercising.

What happens next

The case now sits before the New York Supreme Court in Albany County, where the DMV will have to defend the denial in court rather than by letter. If the court orders disclosure, the records would show, in numbers, how New York tests and licenses non-domiciled commercial drivers. If the court sides with the DMV, the statistics stay sealed. No hearing date was announced in FAIR's statement, and the DMV had not issued a public response in the coverage available when this report was prepared.