The Bush administration is expected to announce today it intends to open the U.S. border to unsafe Mexican trucks in the next six to eight weeks for a one-year experimental pilot program. The border has remained closed, except for transfers within a 20-mile commercial zone, since the implementation of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) because of the Mexican government’s failure to meet the truck safety and driver training requirements of NAFTA.
“As with the Dubai Ports debacle, President Bush is willing to risk our national security by giving unfettered access to America’s transportation infrastructure to foreign companies and their government sponsors,” said Jim Hoffa, Teamsters General President. “They are playing of game of Russian Roulette on America’s highways. Mexico refuses to meet their end of the bargain yet President Bush rewards them with open access to American highways. It is the American driving public who will pay the consequences.”
The Teamsters Union has led efforts to keep the border closed for the past twelve years. Just two years ago, the Department of Transportation Inspector General found that the Mexican government and Mexican motor carriers did not meet congressionally mandated requirements. An Inspector General audit report is due in the next couple of months, raising serious questions as to why President Bush is pushing this experimental program ahead of that report.
“Where is the Inspector’s General report that tells us that Mexico is meeting U.S. standards?” Hoffa asked. “Why is the President willing to move forward when his own Inspector General has stated that Mexico cannot meet its obligations?”
According to DOT sources, the Bush Administration will announce today that it is initiating a one-year experimental program that will allow 100 Mexican carriers to begin travel beyond the currently permitted commercial zones. Apparently no hazardous material shipments will be permitted in order to avoid the required background checks. The DOT is unable to say how many trucks will be participating in the experiment or whether there will be a system in place to differentiate between those trucks traveling to the 20-mile commercial zones and those permitted to travel throughout the U.S.
The plan raises several serious concerns, including:
* The impact on homeland security initiatives. Will the drivers be checked against the terror watch list or will our borders be open to anyone with a Mexican driver’s license? Will the drivers be required to carry a Mexican passport as U.S. citizens are required to present their passports when entering the country from Mexico or Canada?
* The DOT has been disingenuous about this pilot program, indicating only a few weeks ago that it was not pursuing this pilot program. What else are they lying about?
* Enforcement of hours of service in Mexico, false log books and fatigued drivers entering the U.S.
* The application of U.S. standards to Mexican drivers including the requirement that U.S. drivers have a Commercial Drivers License, undergo regular physicals and meet minimum age requirements.
* The integrity of drug and alcohol testing. Though testing will be done in U.S. labs, it is unclear who will oversee the collection of random samples creating a system ripe for abuse.
* Enforcement of U.S. wage and hour laws.
* DOT’s assertion that all trucks will be inspected by U.S. officials in Mexico and at the U.S. border when less than ten percent of all Mexican trucks entering the commercial zone are inspected now.
“The DOT has indicated that ‘this is as narrow experiment’ as they could initiate. Yet it is an experiment that allows 100 companies and an unknown number of Mexican trucks onto our highways and forces the U.S. traveling public to serve as guinea pigs,” Hoffa said. “That is unacceptable. I call on Congress to hold hearings immediately and to put an end to this nonsense.”
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