Posted on 10/13/2025 4:46:40 AM PDT by CFW
Federal agents have ramped up operations across the country, pulling illegal immigrants out of truck cabs and off the interstates. These moves, spearheaded by ICE and state patrols, come as President Trump’s team enforces long-ignored rules on who gets to haul freight in America. The result? Pay rates for legitimate drivers are climbing, especially in the spot market where quick loads get bid online.
One trucker posted on X about a run from Chicago to Fargo: “[I] Normally do Chicago to Fargo for $1200. Had a [delivery] broker call and offer me $1800. Needless to say, I took him up on the offer. Lord do I hope this hangs around a little bit.”
Craig Fuller, who runs FreightWaves, pointed out the shift: “Volumes are anemic, but spot rates rose [2 percent] anyways. What gives? We are seeing the bottom feeders get squeezed out of the market, since these firms don’t operate in the contract market.”
(Excerpt) Read more at thelibertydaily.com ...
Women, children and LGBTQs hurt most by this high-handed action by the Trump administration!
Prices at the stores also increasing
And I’ll wager the roads will become a bit safer without all those untrained, unskilled, foreign a-holes driving on them.
Note that they are NOT increasing at the dramatic rate that occurred during the 4 years of Biden.
American Truckers 🚛🦅
@atutruckers
2h
🚨ALARMING: An exhausted non-citizen truck driver from Mexico was found ASLEEP on the side of the interstate in Clarksville, AR! This driver violated hours of service rules, was driving in “personal conveyance” mode, couldn’t speak English, and had NO WORK VISA—only a B1/B2 tourist visa.
What’s INSANE? He’s 700 miles from the border, hauling a load from Mississippi to Oklahoma—NOT a cross-border shipment. This is straight-up CABOTAGE violation, illegal for foreign drivers!
Arkansas Highway Police? ZERO training on this—they didn’t even question the Border Crossing Card or why he’s running domestic loads. Even worse, the Arkansas Highway Police chief actively worked with the Arkansas Trucking Association against legislation in this year’s legislative session that would have banned the use of B1/B2 tourist visas for truck drivers in the state of Arkansas. If this happened in Oklahoma, ICE would’ve been called immediately. But Arkansas isn’t cooperating with ICE, so they just dropped him at a hotel with a slap-on-the-wrist warning for English proficiency.
This is a massive safety risk—exhausted illegal drivers on our roads? Wake up, America! Who’s protecting our highways? 😡
Shock Shock. Get rid of the hordes of cheap foreign labor and companies have to start paying market wages.
Gee....what do we suppose is going to happen in Tech and Banking now that companies can’t load up on cheap H1B Indians?
What do we suppose is going to happen with blue collar jobs now that we’ve sealed the border and started deporting illegal aliens?
BTW, let me add....the Teamsters were smart to endorse Trump. Its paying off for their members. How many years did Democrats let this go on?
Prices rise & fall so be careful of what the poor folks
will have to compete with.
I thought CDLs were a nationalized license. Wouldn’t the federal government have an interest to be contacted? Screw Arkansas anyway, home of the Clintons.
Bttt
There was a pretty significant truck driver shortage going INTO Covid. A lot of the flatbed firms I personally deal with attributed it to 50% of the applicants could NOT pass a drug test.
Drugs are legal in states like Oregon. It might be okay for a person to drive a car, BUT do you really want to put that same person behind the wheel of a $150K tractor, a $75K trailer loaded with someone’s product? Especially when that rig weighs 85m#s ?
So, flatbed trucking rates went up about 30% during covid.
Since then they have dropped below pre-covid levels. They are still higher than they were ten years ago. I am not hearing about a driver shortage anymore.
FYI, lumber coming in from Canada into the US is primarily hauled by Canadian lumber companies. These Canadian companies then have to pick up a load and drive it back into Canada ONLY. If they deliver a load from BC into Idaho they have to find another load ONLY going back up into Canada. They can not take a load to Montana.
This law protects the US trucking companies. I deal with a Utah trucking company that will haul rock salt up into Canada or Montana this time of year. Then haul lumber from Canada back into Idaho or Utah.
These are just examples of what I have seen in lumber trading for the last 40 years.
“ One trucker posted on X about a run from Chicago to Fargo: “[I] Normally do Chicago to Fargo for $1200. Had a [delivery] broker call and offer me $1800“
It’s interesting that a broker could go half again on the rate so easily. Somebody seems to have had a lot of headroom in his profit.
Excellent!
PAY ATTENTION TO YOUR VEHICLE INSURANCE FOR THE PAST &+++ YEARS.
THEY SLEEP IN THEIR TRUCKS. NO MOTELS,
“Bill Skinner, a trucking expert, warned on X: “Almost 1/3 of our nation’s freight is hauled by non-citizen drivers...”’
If a third of drivers are taken off the road, that will create a lot of job opportunities for Americans.
Illegal supply and the "market" is no true market.
long haul truck drivers can earn 75-100K a year. Thing is, it’s a tough job and not everybody can keep a trailer weighing 75K pounds moving straight through all kinds of weather and traffic conditions. I have nothing but respect for them.
As Mither Limbaugh liked to hear, "Ditto."
When we did a west-to-east drive, coast to coast, I was always courteous to truckers, using flashing signals to allow lane changes, passing and thanking as well. We were returned such courtesies by most. The legal, professional drivers are part of the life blood of this nation. Best wishes.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.