Do California and New York issue commercial driver's licenses with no name given, and did Oklahoma arrest 125 "illegals" with such CDLs? No, that's not true: The so-called "No Name Given" commercial driver's licenses include a mononym, which is a single name. The use of mononyms is legal in the United States and is even accepted for U.S. passports. State DMVs and the U.S. State Department place "NO NAME GIVEN" in the space where a first name would otherwise go when an applicant uses a mononym. Some cultures use mononyms, but Americans can apply to a court to change their name to a mononym. Oklahoma's governor said his highway patrol arrested "more than 125 illegal immigrants," but he did not say they held CDLs with no name given.
The claim appeared in a post (archived here) published by the @rightanglenews account on X on September 29, 2025. It read:
BREAKING - In a massively disturbing revelation, it has been revealed that Democrat states such as New York and California are issuing CDLs to illegals as "no name given," with Republican states like Oklahoma stating they have already apprehended over 125 illegals with such IDs.
This is what the post looked like at the time of writing:
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of X.com)
The post included photos of eight driver's licenses: two CDLs issued by New York, five CDLs from California, and one non-commercial California driver's license. The CDLs all have "NO NAME GIVEN" in the space where a first name normally appears. The space where a last name would appear is blurred out, suggesting that there was a name given there. The implication is that any truck driver carrying a "No Name Given" license was issued it without having to provide proof of their name and were in the country illegally. That is a false assumption.
California requires proof of identity, as well as "satisfactory proof of legal presence" for a commercial driver's license. The list (archived here) of acceptable documents for American citizens include a valid U.S. passport or certified U.S. birth certificate, or several other certified official documents. Non-citizens can also obtain CDLs, but they need to show a valid foreign passport, a permanent resident card or similar federally-issued documents.
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of dmv.ca.gov)
The DMV uses an applicant's name exactly as it appears in those documents. When the applicant's name is a mononym, the DMV must still fill in the digital blank where a first name would have otherwise be listed. Putting "NO NAME GIVEN" in that space is the official procedure.
If an American citizen who uses a mononym applies for a CDL using a U.S. passport for identification verification, the "NO NAME GIVEN" is also on the passport. This is the official policy of the U.S. State Department, according to the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services website (archived here).
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of uscis.gov)
The claim that Oklahoma "apprehended over 125 illegals with such IDs" appeared to be based on a news release (archived here) from Oklahoma Gov. J. Kevin Stitt's office issued on September 29, 2025, which read:
Governor Stitt announced today that under Operation Guardian, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol (OHP), in partnership with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), conducted a targeted enforcement action along Interstate 40 in western Oklahoma. The operation resulted in the apprehension of more than 125 illegal immigrants from multiple countries, including India, Uzbekistan, China, Russia, Georgia, Turkey, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Mauritania.
During the operation, OHP encountered numerous commercial truck drivers operating with licenses issued by sanctuary states, including one license listing "No Name Given." These individuals posed a public safety risk by operating 80,000-pound commercial vehicles without proper verification.
The governor's statement, however, did not say that the '125 illegals' arrested had CDLs with no name given. It said the Oklahoma Highway Patrol encountered one commercial truck driver who carried a "license listing 'No Name Given.'" It did not say that driver was an illegal immigrant or even an immigrant at all. The release did not say that this truck driver was arrested, only that he was "encountered."
(Image source: Lead Stories screenshot of oklahoma.gov)
The image of the CDL issued by New York State included in the release showed in all upper-case letters "NO NAME GIVEN" in the section that would ordinarily show a driver's first name. The governor's office blacked out the space where the driver's last name would appear, which suggested there was a name given there.
The Oklahoma news release ends with this quote from Gov. Stitt:
"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," said Governor Stitt. "I want to thank our troopers and ICE officials for their hard work. This is about keeping Oklahomans safe."
Still, the governor offered no information that any illegal immigrants with "No Name Given" CDLs were arrested in his state. If this happened, it was left out of his news release.
