CHRIS SPEAR: Cheaters Are Undermining American Trucking. The Trump Administration Can Put A Stop To It

For decades, America’s truck drivers and motor carriers have played by the rules. They earn their licenses, pass safety checks, pay their taxes, and do the hard work that keeps our supply chain moving. Yet when it comes to cabotage—the illegal hauling of U.S. domestic freight by foreign drivers on temporary visas—the cheaters are getting ahead. And for far too long, Washington has turned a blind eye.

This is not a matter of interpretation. The law could not be clearer: Mexican and Canadian drivers are permitted to bring goods into our country and return with goods back across the border. That legitimate cross-border trade, sanctioned under the United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement, is vital to our economy.

But what they cannot do is haul freight within our borders—from Dallas to Houston, or Phoenix to Chicago. Still, this practice is happening every day, and on a scale that can no longer be ignored.

This is not competition. It is outright theft. Every unlawful load is money stolen directly from an American driver’s pocket. Every shipment handed to a foreign driver operating illegally on U.S. soil undercuts the companies that follow the rules. The worst part? Too often, it’s U.S. carriers themselves that abuse the system, hiring foreign drivers on temporary visas to grab an unfair and illegal advantage over law-abiding carriers. The result is a marketplace tilted against the very workers who keep America’s economy strong.

The proof is overwhelming. In Nogales, Ariz., one carrier raked in $2.4 million in illegal revenue by dispatching Mexican B-1 visa drivers on domestic hauls. Another pocketed $1.3 million before finally being shut down. These are not isolated cases. They are part of a broader scheme that rewards lawbreaking and hollows out good-paying American jobs.