Mexican Trucks Start Rolling Across America Tomorrow

This week those Mexican trucks will start rolling across our highways and all signs are that the test program will receive certification from the Department of Transportation’s inspector general today!

What a twisted web of deceit! Talk about strange political bedfellows! Let’s see . . . We have the Teamsters, the Sierra Club and Public Citizen fighting against the Bush administration's test program to allow Mexican trucks unrestricted access to U.S. highways. Most social conservatives would support this fight to halt the test program. After all, protecting America’s jobs and America’s sovereignty is important to social conservatives.

Note: The 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco on Friday denied an emergency injunction to halt the program. The union will continue its lawsuit.

And then we have Bush, the Department of Transportation, the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the lefty Daily Kos anarchists, and all NAFTA proponents on the other side - all for obviously different reasons. One thing these pro free trade NAFA folks do share in common with the leftist Daily Kos anarchists is a scant regard for protecting American sovereignty.

Opening the border to trucks was a key part of the North American Free Trade Agreement inked in 1994. The trucks were supposed to be delivering international cargo seven years ago. Under the trade pact, certified Mexican trucks can carry loads anywhere in the United States but can pick up loads only if they are bound for Mexico. The converse applies to U.S. trucks.

But American truckers aren’t too keen on going into Mexico. In the United States, only 14 firms have sought permits from the Mexican government. Here’s what one American trucker had to say . . .

. . .Mexican truckers are eating into our paychecks. They’re coming up here, but no American truckers are willing to go into Mexico. (American truckers) are under enough pressure, from increases in fuel prices to decreases in freight price. We don’t need any extra stress.

Here’s what one American transport company president had to say . . .

There will be major accidents with these drivers. . .

Mr. Clinton brought you NFTA. The UAW, know the number of jobs lost to NFTA. Only the Congressman from Ohio (Cleveland) now running for President has called for the repeal of NFTA. Now, the teamsters union will get the same treatment as the UAW. Nice going George.
Also, the trucks from Mexico can do door to door delivery of drugs and illegals. Just watch the flow of drugs increase and end up in our schools.

So here’s how the government says it’s all going to come down . . . yea right!

Before we spell out the faulty logic and questionable numbers, keep in mind that, “Last year, 4.5 million trucks crossed north over the border, mostly through Texas.”

We can assume that the number of Mexican trucks crossing the border this year may be similar or even greater. But this test program involves only 31 Mexican firms with a maximum of only 151 Mexican trucks!!!

So what about the rest of the 4.5 million Mexican truckers crossing our border? Are they going to be inspected or just continue to slip through that gaping hole we call the border??? And if there are only 151 Mexican trucks involved in the test program, why does the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration tout that it now has 254 inspectors on the border??? Something smells here!!!

According to the Arizona Central . . .

. . .Officials insist that a lengthy pre-inspection of Mexican firms has resulted in strict safety standards and compliance with congressional mandates. . . .

We chose to do this incrementally and cautiously," said John Hill, who runs the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, which regulates truck safety and is responsible for the cross-border trucking plan. "These carriers are going to be safe."

He has 254 inspectors along the border. Only 16 of the 188 firms inspected have failed. Just over 100 withdrew, signaling the inspections are rigorous, Hill said. . .

Mexican firms - with a maximum of 151 trucks - are poised for U.S. permits, and two-thirds of the firms are in Baja California. Two Mexican border states have no firms cleared to operate in the U.S. interior, including Sonora, across the border from Arizona . . .

Nothing can happen until the inspector general of the Department of Transportation blesses the one-year experiment and until the Mexican government issues permits to U.S. trucking companies.

That all could happen as early as Thursday.

The heated rhetoric has melted into obscurity the fact that very few firms on either side of the border are interested. To date, 31 Mexican firms - with a maximum of 151 trucks - are poised for U.S. permits, and two-thirds of the firms are in Baja California. Two Mexican border states have no firms cleared to operate in the U.S. interior, including Sonora, across the border from Arizona.

In the United States, only 14 firms are awaiting permits from the Mexican government, Hill said.

Teamsters accuse the government of cherry-picking Mexican firms to skew the results of the imminent experiment.

"You can't take the 151 safest trucks in Mexico and let them drive all over the United States for a year and then say your entire program is safe," Teamsters spokeswoman Leslie Miller said.

Hill says follow-up reviews by the inspector general, plus one independent technical panel that includes former Arizona Congressman Jim Kolbe, will assure the results' validity.

What a bad joke - on us!

Freedom Folks has an excellent piece today featuring Mar R. Taylor who urges us all to “follow the money” on this test program.

Technorti tags:
Illegal Immigration, Illegal Alien, Mexico, Trucks, Truckers, Invasion, National Security, DHS, Racist, Gringa