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 X. Carrillo, Laredo Sector Border Patrol chief; Gene Belmares, mayor pro tem; and Steve McCraw, Texas Homeland Security director, among others.
“While those who smuggle narcotics generally lose their commercial license permanently, human smugglers are often free to continue operating commercial vehicles and frequently continue to break the law,” Cornyn stated.
Under current federal law, those convicted of smuggling drugs can receive a lifetime suspension of their commercial driver’s license, with no opportunity to reapply. However, anyone convicted of smuggling humans can have their commercial driver’s license suspended for only a year.
And, if they receive a second conviction of smuggling illegal immigrants, they can wait up to 10 years before reapplying for a commercial driver’s license.
“We’re going to be urging colleagues of Congress to act to eliminate this disparity and make sure we discourage all manner of illegal activity here along the border region,” Cornyn said.
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