Thread: Mexican trucks to enter U.S. freely?

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/artic ... E_ID=50803

THE NEW WORLD DISORDER
Mexican trucks to enter U.S. freely?
Bush administration refuses to answer WND's questions

Posted: June 27, 2006
1:00 a.m. Eastern

By Jerome R. Corsi
© 2006 WorldNetDaily.com

A U.S. government agency has begun a new audit to determine if the Bush administration has resolved inspection issues that would allow Mexican trucks to enter the U.S. freely.

David Barnes, a spokesman for the Office of Inspector General within the U.S. Department of Transportation confirmed to WND a new audit was begun in March 2006 on action by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.

Barnes said he could not speculate on the outcome of the new study or on whether FMCSA had made any progress working out on-site safety inspection requirements with Mexico.

Despite repeated calls, WND received no comment from the office of Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta.

The issue draws heightened significance in light of the North American Free Trade Agreement super-highway plans being developed by the Trans-Texas Corridor project. Next month, the Texas Department of Transportation plans to hold the final public hearings on the plan to build a super-highway up to four football fields wide, paralleling I-35, from the border with Mexico at Laredo, Texas, north to the Texas-Oklahoma border. The Texas DOT expects to have final federal approval by the summer of 2007, with construction of the first super-highway segment to begin shortly thereafter.

Also, as WND has reported, the Kansas City SmartPort plans to open a Mexican customs office as part of their "inland port" along I-35. A brochure on the website of the Kansas City SmartPort makes clear that the ultimate plan is to utilize deep-sea Mexican ports, such as Lazaro Cardenas, to unload containers from China and the Far East. The containers will then be brought into the U.S. by Mexican railroads and Mexican trucks, all headed north to Kansas City, where the containers could continue north or be routed east or west, as needed.

Since before the passage of NAFTA, a decision to allow Mexican trucks into the U.S. on a non-restricted basis has been hotly contested.

On June 7, 2004, the U.S. Supreme Court reached a unanimous decision in Department of Transportation v. Public Citizen, ruling that Mexican trucks under NAFTA could enter the U.S. freely, even if the Mexican trucks failed to meet environmental standards as set by state and federal law.

The decision effectively lifted a 1982 U.S. decision to ban Mexican trucks from U.S. roads, except for a 20-mile zone near the border. The ban had been kept in place by the Clinton administration, despite the passage of NAFTA in 1994, with provisions specifying that the Mexican truck moratorium would be lifted.

Still, thousands of Mexican trucks have not started rolling across the border yet. Why not?

The answer lies with the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration in the Department of Transportation. According to Section 350 of the Fiscal Year 2002 DOT appropriations act, the FMCSA must first certify that Mexican trucks applying for cross-border entry into the U.S. are safe for long-haul operations.

An Office of Inspector General audit published Jan. 3, 2005, indicating the FMCSA had not implemented the on-site inspections in Mexico.

As of September 2004, FMCSA had received applications from 678 Mexican motor carriers seeking long-haul authority to operate about 4,000 vehicles. This was up from 232 carriers that had applied as of March 2003, seeking authority to operate about 1,400 long-haul vehicles.

"Still, the procedures for FMCSA to conduct on-site safety reviews have not been worked out with Mexico under the terms of NAFTA," the January 3, 2005, OIG report noted.

Teamsters opposition

The Teamsters Union has fought NAFTA since the 1990s, concerned that the ultimate plan was to undermine union trucking as well as independent truckers who are owner-operators.

"With all the obstacles that still need to be overcome, our government must heed the OIG's warnings from the January 2005 audit," Galen Munroe, a spokesperson for the Teamsters Union told WND in an email. "The motor carriers in Mexico need to adhere to the same regulations and standards that our companies and drivers are subject to. Unfortunately, this seems to be a near impossible task with Mexico's current infrastructure."

The safety hazards being scrutinized by the FMCSA are in addition to ongoing environmental concerns. Commenting on the 2004 Supreme Court decision in Department of Transportation v. Public Citizen, legal analyst Noah Sachs noted the adverse consequences likely to follow this decision:


As a result of the ruling, thirty thousand or more Mexican trucks – which are generally older, more polluting, and less safe than their U.S. counterparts – will be allowed to conduct long haul trucking operations to locations across the United States.

Recent government studies estimate that eighty to ninety percent of the Mexican truck fleet was manufactured before 1994. In a preliminary environmental review, FMCSA concluded that their emissions "can be expected to translate into incremental increases in premature deaths" and "an enhanced incidence of respiratory diseases" in the United States. A 2002 U.S. EPA study reported a "persuasive" link between inhalation of diesel exhaust and cancer.


Meanwhile, the last remaining barriers to the open entry of Mexican trucks into the U.S. seems to be finalizing procedures for on-site safety inspections in Mexico prior to authorizing Mexican truck operators for long-haul entry into the U.S.

The results of the March 2006 OIG audit will indicated whether FMSCA has made any progress resolving these issues with Mexico in the past year.

I'm outraged! This has got to be stopped. First off, I don't see why Mexican truck should be allowed to operate freely in the United States. Isn't that just taking jobs away from the American truckers? Furthermore, why would I government even consider having two separate standards - one for Mexian truckers - and another for American truckers. This is ludicrous. How can our Congress let the Bush Administration get away with this?

I think this is going to slowly leak out and people will say "What the heck is going on?" Unbelievable a president could be doing this to our people, our country. Like the title of the article "The New World Disorder." So true. Love to see it plastered across the front pg of a newspaper but I'm dreaming there. I can always hope tho.

The polution and saftey issues are enough to stop it. Then add the unfair labor competition.

Dixie

I can't see any hope if Bush is not impeached, in the news they are saying that Mr. Bush and his wife spent all day long calling the people of Utah and asking them to vote for his buddy Chris Cannon

Originally Posted by MW

I'm outraged! This has got to be stopped. First off, I don't see why Mexican truck should be allowed to operate freely in the United States. Isn't that just taking jobs away from the American truckers? Furthermore, why would I government even consider having two separate standards - one for Mexian truckers - and another for American truckers. This is ludicrous. How can our Congress let the Bush Administration get away with this?

Actually our gov't once forced them to obey the laws here. Then Mexico sued us within the WTO for violating NAFTA and won. I think that was a few years ago.

I think I posted this on another discussion, but it bears repeating I believe:

I am very interested in how the Senate can possibly claim to be “working to secure our borders”, when Bush has signed the SPP (Security and Prosperity Partnership) Agreement with Mexico and Canada in March 2005. This is the beginning to creating the North American Union which is opening (not securing) our borders with Mexico and Canada.

The SPP Agreement is designed to accomplish the exact opposite of securing our borders. It allows trucks originating in Mexico to drive right through the heart of America all the way to Canada. Moreover, the first customs stop in America for the “superhighway” is located in Kansas City, which is halfway up the middle of our country. This “origination point” in Mexico bypasses the necessity of America’s union workers.

Please see http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=15497 for details.

Also, we are now in a double bind because of Chapter 11 in the NAFTA Agreement.

“Under Chapter 11of the NAFTA Agreement allows a private NAFTA foreign investor to sue the U.S. government if the investor believes a state or federal law damages the investor’s NAFTA business. Under Chapter 11, NAFTA establishes a tribunal that conducts a behind closed-doors “trial” to decide the case according to the legal principals established by either the World Bank’s International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes or the UN’s Commission for International Trade Law. If the decision is adverse to the U.S., the NAFTA tribunal can impose its decision as final, trumping U.S. law, even as decided by the U.S. Supreme Court. U.S. laws can be effectively overturned and the NAFTA Chapter 11 tribunal can impose millions or billions of dollars in fines on the U.S. government, to be paid ultimately by the U.S. taxpayer.”

Furthermore, there is concern about the impact of a North American Union court structure on our First and Second Amendment Constitutional rights.

See: http://www.humaneventsonline.com/article.php?id=15623 for more details.

I would like to know if the Administration received approval for the building of this “invasion highway” through America from Congress. Who voted for it? Why have the American people not heard more about this? Why are the mainstream media not reporting on this highway? How did this happen so quietly and so quickly without any significant mention in the media?

The original NAFTA agreement was signed by Clinton in January 1994 and is being expanded by Bush. How can we have secure borders in a “North American Union”, when the entire purpose is to open borders? From what I’ve read so far, it appears that we (the American people) can’t even stop this “invasion highway” because of the NAFTA agreement our government signed. However, we can push Congress to “withdraw” from the NAFTA Agreement, because there is a withdrawal clause, which would, hopefully, stop this “superhighway”.

If is obvious now why the Bush administration wants a “guest worker program”. It ties in neatly with this “superhighway”, which severely compromises our security, our livelihood and our heritage

Can we, as American Citizens, file a class action lawsuit or something, in order to bring this out in the open. Something needs to be done!!!!

I don't know enough about the law, but aren't we a country who can sue anybody for any darn reason.

Well this is certainly a very good reason.

Azmomof2 wrote

Can we, as American Citizens, file a class action lawsuit or something, in order to bring this out in the open. Something needs to be done!!!!

The treasonous bastards will sidestep any part of the consitution to get what they want. They want to take union pay scale jobs from the Teamsters and the Long Shoremen at our ports and give them to Mexicans (who will earn far less and get stiffed twice as hard) in order to bypass our ports. What really ticks me off is that these Mexican drivers won't be checked until they get to Kansas where they have plans for a port of entry. Those money and power hungry criminals will sacrifice our rights and states rights in the name and for the right of free trade, which in my mind is illegal trade.