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.
And here’s the reality: if Customs and Border Protection can uncover multiple violations in just a handful of inspections, imagine the scale of what goes undetected every single day. Cabotage violations are not fringe infractions. They are a deliberate business model for carriers willing to exploit loopholes and undermine American workers.
The Department of Homeland Security alone has the authority to end this practice. With the right focus and resources, DHS can send an unmistakable message to the industry: if you break the law, you will be shut down.
The Trump administration has already demonstrated it is willing to stand shoulder to shoulder with America’s truckers. That is why we are confident this administration will take the next step—cracking down on cabotage violations. By enforcing existing statutes, President Trump and his team can safeguard tens of thousands of American jobs, restore fairness to our supply chains, and once again show that they will not allow foreign drivers and lawless carriers to jeopardize an industry responsible for moving roughly three-quarters of our nation’s freight.
The stakes are just too high. If cabotage violations continue unchecked, we risk hollowing out the American trucking workforce and handing market share to carriers who cheat the system. This is not just about protecting one industry. It’s about defending the integrity of our laws, the security of our economy, and the livelihoods of millions of American families who depend on trucking.
There is no middle ground. Either we enforce the law and protect American workers, or we allow them to be undercut by illegal operators. The Trump administration has the chance to stand up once again for fairness, for the rule of law, and for the men and women who deliver for this nation every single day.
The trucking industry doesn’t ask for favors. We only ask for the opportunity to compete on a level playing field.
Chris Spear is the President and CEO of the American Trucking Associations.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
(Featured Image Media Credit: Xnatedawgx/Wikimedia Commons)
All content created by the Daily Caller News Foundation, an independent and nonpartisan newswire service, is available without charge to any legitimate news publisher that can provide a large audience. All republished articles must include our logo, our reporter’s byline and their DCNF affiliation. For any questions about our guidelines or partnering with us, please contact [email protected].
