Posted on 01/03/2007 7:48:14 AM PST by John Jorsett
Fanning out from the mammoth ports of Long Beach and Los Angeles, 16,000 drivers, nearly all of them Latino, crisscross Southern California's congested highways, carrying freight that will make its way to every part of the country.
But a number of the drivers are undocumented immigrants, and they could soon find themselves out of work and freight ould begin backing up across the country.
That's because the federal government, in its drive to boost port security, is on the verge of issuing guidelines for checking identities of the nation's 750,000 port workers, including 110,000 or so who work as haulers.
“We believe finalization is in the coming weeks. It's very soon,” said Darrin Kayser, a spokesman for the Transportation Security Administration, describing the government's plans for the security system.
Like any business pondering how it will get by without undocumented workers, the trucking industry is in deep debate about what could lie ahead.
“There could be a huge impact,” said Curtis Whalen, an official for the American Transportation Association. “If you start getting whacked in the West, you will have an impact in Chicago because of less traffic flow.”
Shippers could transfer their cargo to ports other than Los Angeles and Long Beach or the New York area, where it is estimated that most of the undocumented drivers work. Trucking companies, already struggling with high turnover rates and a dearth of drivers, could be forced to boost their pay to find new drivers.
(Excerpt) Read more at signonsandiego.com ...
I didn't know that Americans will not drive over the road trucks for a living. Just another job being done by illegals because Americans won't do them. A good friend on mine earns over $100K a year driving an 18 wheeler but I guess he is just one of the working poor, oppressed people. S/off
Deport the 13+ million illegals and we won't need so many "undocumented immigrant" truckers. The legal American citizen truckers will be able to carry the weight.
But I sure am sick of the media sanitizing the status of these folks - they are ILLEGAL INVADERS - PERIOD. They are not poor innocent "undocumented immigrants".
And if "Americans" supposedly won't drive for the port, then I would surmise that there are no "Americans" on the welfare rolls, unemployment rolls, and other public handout lines...
You mean there are harbor drivers who are in the country legally?
Nothing will ever be done about the illegal harbor drivers. Walmart would have to pay $25 to $50 more a container to hire citizens or legal immigrants to pull their Chinese-made crap up to Rialto.
And of course, that will never happen.
Boo friggin' hoo. Maybe American industries need to stop building their business model around breaking the law for profit.
Drivers are illegal, but the writer is as dumb as a bucket of coal. Most of the sea contains are grossly over weight and are moved a short distance to a dock to be unloaded and loaded on long haul trucks. The illegals are just port drivers, in the past they were mostly black in longbeach. They need to send them back to Mexico.
ping
ping
That's okay. The longshoremen made Congress drop their background checks....so what is the problem with illegal alien truck drivers.
They're only getting away with it because L.A. is a sanctuary city and most of the port deliveries are within L.A.
It is a lot more complicated than that...all the long haul drivers dont live in LA anymore....in the deserts or AZ, NV, OR or farther....
the "recent arrivals" are the only ones that want to live two families or more under one roof which it takes to afford living here.
The long haul, union or independant, aren't illegls, they would get caught by licence, medical, logs, truck safety inspection, etc.
The can haulers are all short haul bottom feeders.
But HuntsvilleTxVeteran is right. This is really about forcing the traffic to Lazaro Cardenas and then up the Trans Texas. With the Bush family, it's always about Texas profits.
Lyndon Baines Bush strikes again.
There's enough coming through McAllen and such to pay for the new toll road.
How can this be, Mr. Chertoff
We take these things very seriously, don't we?
True. How about trying to get onto the 710? Can't see the cars because of all the trucks, and most of the bad drivers are Mexicans who most likely can't read signs in English.
I know many people who work at that port, and there is almost no security regarding foreign truck drivers coming in.
The longshoremen and the clerks working down there have already been screened before they were hired, but again the illegal aliens get a free pass.
Exactly.
Lots of containers go straight to on-dock rail and are handled by US citizen longshore and railway workers.
These guys are unionized. Very unionized and make big money.
A fellow of a certain ethnicity pulling a container tried to cut me off doing that last spring, I was rather uncooperative with his attempt and gave him a universal sign that notified him of my attitude, whereupon he pumped his horn and jumped up and down in his seat. I think he was surprised that I didn't just give in like the little people in his home country....he had lovely little orange dingo balls hanging from the headliner of his dilapidated Freightliner. Sorta defined the pejorative phrase "Mexican Rig"!! :^)
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