Free Republic

Anyone worried that, once in charge, Democrats wouldn’t be vigilant in protecting our southern border can relax. The grave threat of Mexican long-haul truckers has been shut down. With any luck, Mexicans will never have the temerity to attempt to deliver commercial goods into the United States again. At least such is the fervid hope of the Teamsters, the fiercest adversary the Mexicans have faced since Pres. James Polk sent Winfield Scott south in the Mexican-American War. The union can’t abide Mexican trucks because they represent competition, and so they must be blocked — legal obligations, economic rationality, and diplomatic...

A lawsuit has been filed by the Teamsters against the Transportation Department's Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration over a pilot plan to allow Mexican truck drivers – and trucks – access to U.S. highways. As WND has reported, the government will have no access to whether those truckers have any criminal records, and the system is being set up to allow those trucks loaded with goods to cross the border in as little as 15 seconds. The action was filed Monday in federal court in California, alleging the Bush administration's program failed to publish proper, advance notice of the pilot...

Hershey to Close Reading, Pa., Plant The Hershey Co., the nation's leading candy maker, said Monday that it will shut down a plant in Reading as part of a wider move to cut labor and materials costs. The closing, which will affect about 260 unionized employees, is the company's second plant-closing announcement in a little over two months. "Our network operates at less than half of capacity (over seven days) and we must make significant changes to remain competitive," Hershey (nyse: HSY - news - people ) spokesman Kirk Saville said. Saville said the company would work out severance agreements...

Despite congressional opposition, the Bush administration is fully committed to beginning within weeks a pilot test that will allow Mexican trucks to operate freely across the U.S. A spokesman for the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, Ian Grossman, told WND the agency plans to grant the first authority for a Mexican trucking company to operate its long-haul rigs throughout the U.S. as early as the end of this month.

WASHINGTON - A new Texas road being planned to accommodate truck traffic between the United States and Mexico has riled Ohio members of Congress who fear it's the first phase of a "NAFTA Superhighway" that would be used to funnel cheap imports to the Midwest as it links Mexico, the United States and Canada. Texas and federal highway officials deny that a proposed North-South toll road running parallel to Inter-state 35 is part of a planned international superhighway, and say there are no plans for a transcontinental road. They insist the new thoroughfare would merely handle some of the extra...

WASHINGTON - The news that Mexican trucks will be allowed to haul freight deeper into the United States drew an angry reaction Friday from labor leaders, safety advocates and members of Congress. They said Mexico has substandard trucks and low-paid drivers that will threaten national security, cost thousands of jobs and endanger motorists on the northern side of the border. The Bush administration's plan to let 100 Mexican trucking companies carry cargo beyond the immediate border area was announced Thursday in Mexico. "This program will make trade with Mexico easier and keep our roads safe at the same time," Transportation...

Our weak border President continues his mission to make America more like Mexico when on Thursday, February 23, the administration announced details of a plan to permit 100 Mexican trucking companies to travel freely in the U.S. For the sake of contrarians, let's assume this is a good thing in that trucker's making a quarter of the hourly wage of American drivers will help reduce the cost of goods crossing the border. Additionally, foreign trucking companies will be able to squeeze five to ten more years of road life out of their fleets, thus reducing overhead and capital investment. And...