The story almost sounds like satire: New York issued a commercial driver’s license — the kind that allows someone to operate an 80,000-pound rig barreling down an interstate — without requiring a first name. The license literally read “No Name Given.”
The revelation came out of Oklahoma, where Gov. Kevin Stitt (R) has launched Operation Guardian, a crackdown on illegal immigrants driving commercial trucks. During the sting, state troopers and ICE agents arrested 125 individuals, many of them operating big rigs with unverifiable or fraudulent documentation.
Among the most shocking discoveries was a New York CDL stamped with the placeholder “No Name Given” in the fields where a first and middle name should have been.
Stitt wasted no time putting Albany on blast: “If New York wants to hand out CDLs to illegal immigrants with ‘No Name Given,’ that’s on them. The moment they cross into Oklahoma, they answer to our laws.” His office later emphasized the danger, pointing out that drivers with incomplete or unverifiable identification were operating massive vehicles that could wreak havoc in a collision. “An 80,000-pound truck at 70 miles an hour isn’t going to be a minor crash,” Commissioner Tim Tipton warned.
If New York wants to hand out CDLs to illegal immigrants with “No Name Given,” that’s on them. The moment they cross into Oklahoma, they answer to our laws.
OHP performed an enforcement action along I-40 and apprehended 125 illegal immigrants.
This is keeping Oklahomans safe. pic.twitter.com/kNspThTk4E
— Governor Kevin Stitt (@GovStitt) September 29, 2025
The New York Department of Motor Vehicles admitted to The Post that the license was real, issued in April 2023 and valid through May 2028. DMV spokesman Walter McLure defended the move, claiming the individual had “lawful status” via federal employment authorization, and that “it is not uncommon for individuals from other countries to have only one name.” Still, he declined to specify which federal program applied, what documentation was used, or whether the DMV was cooperating with Oklahoma investigators.
The political backlash was immediate. Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who has announced plans to challenge Gov. Kathy Hochul, blasted her rival: “At every opportunity, Kathy Hochul has turned her back on New Yorkers to bend the knee to the radical Far Left of the Democrat Party that puts illegals and criminals first and hardworking law-abiding New Yorkers last.”
The controversy lands on top of ongoing litigation over New York’s so-called “green light law,” which allows non-citizens to obtain standard driver’s licenses. The Trump Justice Department sued earlier this year, calling the law a “frontal assault” on federal immigration enforcement. The DMV’s own website explicitly states that commercial licenses are not covered under the green light program, raising fresh questions about how a CDL marked “No Name Given” was issued in the first place.
For Hochul, the optics are especially grim. As a county clerk running for Congress years ago, she once boasted in ads, “I led the fight against giving illegal immigrants driver’s licenses.” Now, under her governorship, her own DMV is defending the issuance of a commercial driver’s license with no verifiable name attached.
