| (Washington, D.C.)
– 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 a 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.” |
