Resistance to Mexican Trucks Taking Shape
09/11/2007
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Senator Byron Dorgan has long been a critic of harmful trade treaties, outsourcing and open borders. He is now providing leadership against Mexican trucks being permitted throughout America.

Congress could act quickly to block a new Bush administration pilot program allowing long haul Mexican trucks to operate anywhere in the United States, a U.S. senator said on Monday.

"My hope is the Senate will do as the House has done and we will put the brakes on the pilot program," Sen. Byron Dorgan, a North Dakota Democrat, told reporters.

Dorgan proposed an amendment denying funding for the one-year program, which was begun late last week. [Senator makes bid to block Bush on Mexican trucks ABC News 9/10/07]

Today's Lou Dobbs opened with the sentence: "Tonight, new evidence the Bush administration apparently believes commerce with Mexico is more important than border security."

Congressman Ted Poe (R-TX) agreed that giving unlimited access to US highways to dangerous Mexican trucks is a terrible idea.

POE: I think it's certainly unwise. It doesn't help the United States. The system is not reciprocal. American trucks are not yet allowed to go into Mexico. But having trucks that are overweight, with people who may not be able to read a street sign is not going to be advantageous to the United States. We need to study this longer and make sure that each truck is secure. We've got word from homeland security they're going to inspect all these trucks. They're not even inspecting the people that come into the United States now adequately. They're not going to be able to inspect these vehicles for safety and pollution and for who is on those vehicles, must less what cargo they're carrying.

For a recent example of how dangerous foreign drivers can be, see Lack of English blamed for train-truck wreck in North Carolina.

In July, a non-English-speaking foreigner was sentenced for a horrific crash he caused: Illegal Alien Trucker Is Sentenced for Killing Four.

Several Americans have already been killed as a result of Mexican trucking: Victims of Mexican Trucks Remembered.

Oh, and safety news from south of the border is not reassuring: Truck Explosion in Mexico Kills 37.

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