Mexico Trucker Online

News from north of the Rio Bravo concerning the trucking industry in general

We all know the controversial Mexican Cross Border Program was extended for two more years on August 8, under Federal guidelines concerning Pilot Programs, and as we reported, Jimmy Hoffa immediately showed his no class ignorance by continuing his boring mantra about those unsafe, dangerous and illegal Mexican trucks, a notion we have continually disproved [...]

Bill would mandate “Black Boxes” in all CMV’s
Two U.S. senators today urged tougher regulations aimed at improving bus safety in response to last week’s deadly accident that killed 17 Vietnamese Catholics from Houston.
Sens. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, and Sherrod Brown, D-Ohio, issued statements calling for the passage of their legislation, known as the Motorcoach Enhanced [...]

So what’s going on here? Are we so fixated on legally operated, safe Mexican Cross Border trucks that we totally ignore the commercial bus industry in the United States?
On the heels of Friday morning deadly crash in Sherman Texas that killed 17 and injured more than 35 people when the recapped steering tire blew out [...]

The mystery of diesel fuel disappearing from trucks in Seguin appeared solved this week when a San Antonio man with a specially rigged pickup was arrested on theft charges, police said.
Yan Gomez, 30, was caught Wednesday as he pumped fuel from a truck, said Lt. J. San Miguel of the Seguin Police.
“He had a Ford [...]

It was no surprise when FMCSA Administrator John Hill extended the Mexican Cross Border Program for another two years, thus beating the opposition at their own game.
You see, FMCSA has been calling it a “demonstration program” while the opposition called it a “pilot program” which operates under different requirements, requirements that FMCSA has met.
So John [...]

The violations discovered in the bus belonging to Angel Tours that crashed in Sherman Texas Friday morning points to the stupidty and ignorance of a small percentage of people obsessed with ending the Cross Border Pilot Program, which has operated safely for the past 11 months, while ignoring American common carriers who flaunt and ignore [...]

McALLEN -(The Monitor) The former owner of an Edinburg. Texas trucking business was sentenced to 30 years in prison Monday for his role in a drug smuggling and money laundering ring.
A federal jury in Houston found Ricardo Garcia Heredia, 44, of McAllen, guilty in May of multiple counts of conspiracy and drug possession.
Prosecutors allege Garcia [...]

Federal regulators formally approved the merger of the nation’s only two satellite radio operators Friday, ending a 16-month-long drama closely watched by Washington and Wall Street.
Sirius Satellite Radio Inc.’s $3.3 billion buyout of rival XM Satellite Radio Holdings Inc. will mean 18 million-plus subscribers will be able to receive programming from both services. Executives say [...]

Alabama State Troopers are enhancing revenue in that state using the vague provisions of FMCSA Regulation 391.11 (b)(2), the controversial rule requiring CDL holders to be conversant in English
This rule leaves it up to the individual officer or inspector to determine, in his mind, what is “sufficient”.
This can be open to abuse and a [...]

U.S. Sen. John Cornyn announced new federal legislation Friday that aims to crack down on commercial truck drivers who smuggle illegal immigrants.The legislation, dubbed the Putting the Brakes on Human Smuggling Act, imposes tougher penalties against commercial truck drivers convicted of smuggling humans, said Cornyn, who was flanked at the Laredo North checkpoint by Carlos [...]

AUSTIN — Truckers who smuggle drugs or people into the U.S. are now risking not only prison time but also the loss of their commercial driver’s licenses as Texas uses a longstanding law in a new border crime crackdown.
“Up until today, when those lawbreakers had their trucks apprehended, they were convicted in federal court, they [...]

The annual three-day inspection blitz known as Roadcheck takes place this week at more than 1,000 inspection locations at weigh stations and roadside checkpoints across the U.S., Canada and Mexico.
The annual event sponsored by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance is Tuesday through Thursday, June 3-5, and will involve tens of thousands of inspections by federal, [...]

“Allowing Mexican truckers and long-haul rigs on highways throughout the United States – absent the rigorous inspections and safety and training standards for U.S. trucks and truck drivers – is dangerous to the public,” Surra said in a written statement.

When it comes to the Mexican Cross Border truck program, everyone seems to be trying to get on the bandwagon or use the issue to boost their rankings. It doesn’t seem to matter if they get their facts right. To the contrary, most think it is cute to pass along the misinformation that has been [...]

Though springtime typically sees a spike in illegal border crossings, activity has been heavier than usual in Laredo, immigration officials said.
In the past two months, agents have thwarted several attempts to smuggle people in large tractor-trailers, charging 41 people — American truck drivers and others — with smuggling. They detained 376 undocumented immigrants from Mexico [...]

Having lived through the ones in the 70’s and 80’s, the last one in 1984, I believe, still hanging around the back of my mind, the whole idea of any type of job action is the ultimate in stupidity.
Anyone remember the “kowboys” blocking the entrance to the truck stops, such as the old Union 76 [...]

It’s been what, a week now, since the news everyone was talking about was the multi agency raid on Swift Transportations Memphis terminal and truck driving school, or was it the Tennessee Department of Safety, on site license office. Things tend to get blurred when nobody knows anything but everyone’s an expert.
So what’s going on? [...]