Feds accuse AZ. truck firms of using drivers illegally
Feds accuse local truck firms of using drivers illegally
Two charged, multiple semi-trucks seized in ‘cabotage’ crackdown
- By Jonathan Clark
Nogales International
- Oct 24, 2018 Updated 8 hrs ago
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Federal agents carry out a raid on Nogales-area trucking companies last week.
Photo by Paul Ingram, Tucson Sentinel
An ongoing dispute between local trucking companies and federal law enforcement over so-called “cabotage” rules that prevent Mexican truckers from picking up and delivering loads in the United States has resulted in criminal charges against two Nogales business owners and the seizure of multiple tractors, trailers and other vehicles.
Jimmy Watson, Sr. of JSJ Enterprises and Luis Rivera of L&R Trucking and Sunset Trucking were both indicted by a federal grand jury on eight counts of harboring illegal aliens for profit and one count of unlawful employment of aliens, court records show.
The indictment against Rivera was returned Sept. 5 and the one against Watson came on Oct. 3, but both were kept under seal until this week.
The indictment against Watson includes the seizure of 15 vehicles and trailers, while Rivera faces the loss of 16 vehicles and trailers. Three additional companies reportedly had trucks seized, but their owners were not indicted.
The charges and seizures stem from regulations that prohibit foreign drivers from picking up U.S. cargo and delivering it within the country. The longstanding “cabotage” rules are part of the North American Free Trade Agreement, but the Border Patrol didn’t start enforcing them with vigor at the Interstate 19 checkpoint until the start of this year, after offering advance warning in late 2017.
Some local trucking company operators, including Rivera and Jimmy Watson, Jr. of JSJ, complained that they couldn’t find enough U.S. citizens to replace their Mexican drivers, who are restricted by their B-1 Temporary Business Visitor visas to delivering a trailer loaded with Mexican-origin merchandise only to its final destination.
Watson Jr. told the NI in January that in response to the new enforcement, JSJ had moved 80 percent of its operation across the border, and said the firm’s Mexican drivers had begun picking up produce directly from growers in Mexico, instead of from sorting facilities in Nogales, Ariz. and Rio Rico.
But Scott Brown, Special Agent in Charge for Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Homeland Security Investigations in Arizona, told the Tucson Sentinel that Border Patrol agents at the Interstate 19 checkpoint saw a "pattern" of truckers with B-1 visas heading north into the U.S. interior after picking up loads at produce warehouses in Nogales and Rio Rico, even after trucking companies were warned to “knock it off.”
The indictment against Rivera alleges violations beginning on or around March 20 and continuing until July 3. Watson is accused of violating the law from April 23 to July 17. Both were released on the own recognizance pending their next court hearings.
Jimmy Watson, Jr., who was not named in the indictment against his father, told the NI on Tuesday that “there are two sides to the story,” but didn’t want to comment on the charges while the investigation is ongoing.
“We’ll let time take its course and hopefully everybody comes out good,” he said, adding that he hopes “that this doesn’t affect the local economy.”
The cases against Watson, Sr. and Rivera are being prosecuted at U.S. District Court in Tucson by Assistant U.S. Attorney Mike Jette, a former prosecutor with the Santa Cruz County Attorney’s Office and Arizona Attorney General.
https://www.nogalesinternational.com/news/feds-accuse-local-truck-firms-of-using-drivers-illegally/article_799b5250-d7c2-11e8-a293-4736957ff036.html
