Border Patrol Detains Mexican Truck Drivers for ‘Cabotage’
Truckers Sent ý With Visas Revoked, While Trucks Seized and Owners Notified
Key Takeaways:
- CBP agents detained Mexican truck drivers on I-19 in Arizona and seized their vehicles after identifying multiple cabotage and immigration violations, returning the drivers to Mexico.
- The enforcement follows months of warnings from CBP and pressure from the American Trucking Associations, which said illegal domestic hauling by B-1 visa holders harms U.S. carriers and workers.
- CBP said the drivers’ border crossing cards will be processed for revocation and emphasized continued efforts to enforce cabotage rules and protect the U.S. transportation sector.
[Stay on top of transportation news: .]
Mexican truck drivers illegally hauling domestic U.S. freight recently were detained and saw their commercial vehicles seized by federal agents in a U.S. Customs and Border Protection enforcement effort targeting “cabotage,” in which Mexican drivers delivering cross-border freight remain in the U.S. to haul domestic loads.
Doing so is a violation of federal law, and it’s an issue that has for months been urging legislators, regulators and law enforcement to take more seriously.
Agents conducting immigrations checks along Interstate 19 in Arizona in two incidents pulled drivers off the road suspected of cabotage and returned them to Mexico, . The north-south freight route stretches from the Nogales Land Port of Entry on the U.S. side of the border to Tucson. This stretch of I-19 is a key commerce corridor for the state, as it connects to I-8 near Tucson and I-10 south of Phoenix.
The agents identified “multiple cabotage and immigration law violations,” per the CBP release.
“The drivers were returned to Mexico and were informed that their border crossing cards would be processed for revocation due to violations of their visa terms. Drivers retrieved their personal belongings from the vehicles, which were subsequently towed. The truck owners were notified of the enforcement actions,” CBP stated.
(Google Maps)
The agency stressed that cabotage laws exist to ensure that transport of cargo and passengers between two points within the United States is handled by legally permitted carriers or drivers.
“These laws are designed to ensure that domestic transportation services are reserved for U.S. companies and workers, preventing unfair competition from foreign entities,” CBP noted. “Border Patrol agents remain committed to safeguarding the nation’s borders and enforcing federal laws that protect the U.S. economy, transportation systems and job opportunities for American workers.”
Specifically, commercial truck drivers holding B-1 business-visitor visas can haul freight between the U.S. and Mexico but are prohibited from the domestic U.S. transport of goods, even if those goods were foreign in origin. Cabotage can result in the revocation of a truck driver’s B-1 visa.
CBP Alert
CBP on May 20 issued a warning U.S. carriers about the risks of cabotage.
“Cabotage rules prevent foreign nationals in the U.S. on B-1 business-visitor visas from competing with U.S. truckers on loads moving point to point in the U.S. The objective of the regulations is to ensure that domestic U.S. traffic is performed by U.S. trucking companies, with U.S. equipment and U.S. drivers,” the alert declared.
The notice stated that B-1 visa truckers from Mexico and Canada must not:
- Pick up a shipment at one U.S. location and deliver that shipment to another U.S. location.
- Reposition an empty trailer between two points in the United States when the driver did not either enter with or depart with that trailer.
- “Top up” an international shipment with U.S. domestic shipments.
- Seek cargo shipments for domestic deliveries while in the United States.
The CBP alert said B-1 visa drivers should know that the classification of foreign cargo becomes domestic once it “comes to rest” if stopped for any reason not considered a “necessary incident” of international commerce.
Examples of cargo coming to rest and becoming domestic include:
- Parking goods at a drop lot, holding area or warehouse to be picked up later and delivered (overnight of the weekend), unless the goods are parked awaiting clearance by a government agency such as CBP, the U.S. Department of Agriculture or the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
- Switching tractors in the United States, unless the tractors belong to the same company and the replacement tractor makes entry from a foreign country due to a medical emergency, tractor breaking down, etc.
ATA Raised Alarm
The issue is one ATA has spotlighted publicly for much of the year. ATA Chief Economist Bob Costello in March said that the federation was working with the Department of ýland Security to increase focus on the issue. The next month, ATA President in a letter to Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy listed cabotage among issues that deserved tighter DOT focus.
In September, urging President Donald Trump to increase his administration’s enforcement of cabotage.
RELATED: ATA Presses Congress on Safety, Efficiency Priorities
“This isn’t a gray area. The law is crystal clear: Mexican and Canadian drivers can bring goods into this country and take goods back out. That is legitimate cross-border commerce permitted under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, and this vital freight flow helps sustain America’s supply chain. However, what Mexican and Canadian drivers cannot do is haul loads from Dallas to Houston, or from Phoenix to Chicago. Yet that is exactly what is happening. And it’s happening on a seemingly large scale,” ATA stated.
It added, “Each illegal load is a paycheck stolen directly from an American driver. Each scheme that puts foreign drivers behind the wheel for domestic hauls undercuts the companies that follow the law.”
Want more news? Listen to today's daily briefing below or go here for more info:
