EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – The State Department’s pause on issuing work visas to foreign truck drivers so far is not having a major impact on the transportation to El Paso of goods and parts manufactured at maquiladoras in Juarez, Mexico, industry leaders say.
But it is sowing confusion and may drive up costs, augment a labor shortage, and delay deliveries in the interior of the United States if prolonged, they said.
Secretary of State Marco Rubio, on August 21, said the federal government would stop issuing work visas for commercial truck drivers effective immediately.
The announcement came days after a citizen of India who is an undocumented migrant but allegedly secured a commercial driver’s license in California was charged with three counts of vehicular homicide while making an illegal U-turn in Florida.
“The increasing number of foreign drivers operating large tractor-trailer trucks on U.S. roads is endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers,” Rubio posted on X.
Juarez trucking executive Manuel Sotelo said most Mexican truckers hauling merchandise from Juarez across the El Paso and New Mexico ports of entry so far have not been required to have a work visa. They don’t venture to the interior of the U.S. and return to Mexico right away; some even make two to three daily commutes.
The two countries set rules under the North American Free Trade Agreement – later replaced by the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) – on when Mexican drivers can come into “commercial border zones” and under what circumstances they can travel beyond those areas.
“The Mexican operators, whom we only use locally, don’t need a work permit. They have a (Border Crossing Card), the one all of us have in case we want to cross into the United States,” Sotelo said.
Mexican drivers working in the interior of the United States are typically recruited by American companies to deliver cargo between major U.S. cities.
‘They are ones with (visas) … so, the impact will be on American companies that have to move their merchandise about,” Sotelo said.
Marcelo Vasquez Tovar, regional director of the National Importers and Exporters Association in Mexico, said Rubio’s announcement has caused confusion among truckers and adds uncertainty to transportation businesses already coping with stricter English-only rules when they cross the border.
Trucking companies are spending on English teachers, taking drivers off the road so they can attend classes, and repurposing offices as classrooms.
“It’s a number of things, visas are pauses and the English requirement is adding to costs,” Vasquez told Border Report. “Unfortunately, what will happen is that our Mexican drivers will get stopped and deported. We are losing drivers who want to cross the border.”
Newsweek last month reported on a national trucking survey in which 69 percent of U.S. transportation and shipping company executives polled said a trucker shortage is limiting their ability to meet customer demand.
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