The Mexicans are coming, the Mexicans are coming!

Posted on September 6, 2007, 10:25 pm, by ABaN, under News and Politics.

The Mexicans are coming, the Mexicans are coming!


Paul Revere is one of the most famed and celebrated personalities of the US Revolution. It was Paul who in the late night/early morning hours of April 18 and 19 1775 had his famous “Midnight Ride” in which he is credited with shouting The British are coming! though that is highly unlikely. The spirit of his ride was exactly that though, and that’s the spirit of this article. Except instead of the British attempting to reign in a wayward colony this is the Mexicans trying to drive their trucks in America.

Trucks? We thought it was something important…
Actually it is important. Our infrastructure in the US relies heavily upon the trucking industry. The vast majority of freight is actually shipped to its final sales destination by trucks. It’s a huge industry which employs a lot of Americans. The problem is that Mexicans drive trucks, that’s great, but now they are going to begin hauling freight in the US. Which of course means that there will be less trucking jobs for American drivers. Not to mention all of the other dangers that come with this kind of thing. Dangers like unlicensed drivers, illegal immigration, terrorists, undocumented workers, drivers on drugs, and many more.

Ok, so how exactly is this happening?
In 1994 the North American Free Trade Agreement was passed which opened up borders between Canada, the US, and Mexico. Canadian trucks have been driving around the US for several years now, but the trucks from Mexico hadn’t been certified due to an abundance of safety concerns. In 2000 a group, or rather a tribunal demanded that the US start allowing Mexican trucks to operate on US soil the same as they were allowing Canadian trucks. That is finally beginning to happen.

I don’t see the problem. Wasn’t that part of the agreement?
Yes and no. The problem is that Mexico has no standards when it comes to driving long haul trucks. They don’t drug test, they don’t have laws governing how long they can work or how far they can drive. So clearly there are some safety concerns just related to the driving of the vehicles. We haven’t even gotten into things like smuggling (drugs, people, money, weapons, etc). So yes there was an agreement for Mexico to be able to do that, but there was also an expectation that certain issues would be addressed and they have not been.

If it’s that big of a problem the courts would have stopped it
Funny you should mention that. You’d think that would be the case, but in an amazing (if not very annoying) instance of honesty the judicial branch has decided not to legislate from the bench and instead simply to let the law stand as it reads. Specifically the 9th US circuit court of appeals denied an appeal on August 31 by environmental groups, teamsters, and other groups. The appeal would have prevented this from happening.

What about congress?
The House passed a resolution known as the Safe American Roads Act on May 15th 2007. It was designed to prevent to Secretary of Transportation from being able to freely allow Mexican trucks in the US. It passed the house, but a strenuous lobbying campaign by the Bush administration saw to it that it never reached the floor of the Senate. In the US (as in many other nations) a bill has to go through both houses before it would be passed and then to the President’s desk to be signed. In this case it would have been veto’d because King George has long been trying to get this up and running. We have no way of knowing if it would have been overruled by the 2/3 majority or not.

Where can I get more information?
Here’s a few places to take a look at.

Obviously if you want more indepth information it is out there, but that should get people started.

What is your position on this issue? American or not what is your opinion? Should we be concerned? Will it impact the bottom line of American families?

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  • Randy - I agree it's going to be a huge issue. It won't be until something major happens like a school bus getting T-Boned by a truck operated by a Mexican national that there is going to be any real public outcry.

    It's a sad state of affairs. We've become so complacent as a nation we don't even see where things like this are going.
  • Randy Drake
    The biggest problem, even if there is no contra ban or trucks in bad repair, is that these drivers will not be able to READ English. I was hit by a Mexican driver who failed to read 5, count 'em, 5 traffic signs at an intersection!!!!! FIVE. I could not imagine myself trying to drive in Russia or China or Mexico without reading the language. If you think we have problems now, imagine these idiots on our roads! This is insanity!!!!!!!!
  • You mean George HW Bush? Yes it was but ultimately the fault lies at the feet of the one who could have put a stop to it. Clinton. Instead of doing his duty to protect the American people he signed it.

    Don't get me wrong GW Bush is just a culpable at this point because it was he and his administration that lobbied the senate not to vote on the resolution that would have blocked it. However had Clinton not pushed it through it would be a moot point by now.
  • Just to clarify NAFTA was passed during Clinton's Presidency. Clinton did push it, but it was instigated by the conservative Canadian Government and the Republican President George W Bush. They worked on it a couple of years in order to try to get it passed, but couldn't make it satisfactory in time. Clinton just finished the job.

    This was conceived by Bush. A Bush baby.
  • Jaz - It's a huge wakeup call, or it should be. Fact of the matter is that as Americans we're to concerned about "the finer things in life" than about the little things. I mean when we've got to weigh our morning Starbucks against something like Mexican truckers subverting our families jobs... You don't seriously expect us to raise a finger, do you?
  • Jaz
    Having been a trucker, I blogged about this myself. This should be a hot issue and I suspect it's going to be shuffled off to the side while we are asleep as we Americans seem to be much of the time. I've written several Wake Up posts. This one is a good wake up call. Now if only people will listen and send up a cry that this is not right.

    Yes, it was absolutely Clinton's fault that we are in this situation now. I get so tired of things like this being ALL BUSH's fault. Sigh.
    And that thing about him being evil...oh brother! Thank you for an informative look at the trucking industry and the court system that won't do a thing. Whew!
  • Koert - Yeah I remember a few "interesting" times in Tijauna when I was in the Navy involving truck drivers nearly running people over while they went careening along. Except they were driving little box trucks. I can't imagine what a real truck is like in their hands.

    I actually hesitated in posting this because I was thinking people would start to call me racist. So far no one has taken it that way. At least they've not expressed it, but yeah I know what you mean about lumping people together.
  • Koert
    Anyone who's driven in Baja California has an ingrained fear of Mexican truck drivers. Purposely running opposite traffic onto the shoulders so they can take a turn fast and wide, purposely running over dogs, drinking while driving, sleeping while driving, etc. - they (and I hate to lump them all together) are truly scary!
  • David - Agreed, and I believe it's something American's have brought on ourselves.
  • There's way too much outsourcing in America. Without balance everything will collapse sooner or later.
  • Zawadi - Bush? This is Clinton's fault. He's the one who pushed for NAFTA. Bush is just the guy who isn't doing anything to stop it.
  • If Canadian and American Truck Drivers have to pass certain standards for hauling goods, why not Mexico?

    Bush is evil and we will pay for it later on.

    To the voters who voted for him " You are killing us all."
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