The Border Doesn’t End at the Rio Grande
Want to know how secure our borders are? Stop looking at closed borders; look at our highways, because when the wrong people get behind the wheel of a rig weighing 40 tons, any line between national security and public safety gets dangerously thin.
That's why truckers in America are sounding an alarm that illegal immigrants are obtaining commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) by slipping through loopholes created by careless policy and, stop me if you've heard this before, bureaucratic neglect. As American Truckers United (ATU) co-founder Harvey Beech told Fox News: "Our American truck driver community has been complaining about the foreign invasion of their industry and the things they’re having to deal with on a daily basis."
Beech isn't exaggerating.
The risk of competition or lost wages when a CDL can be obtained without legal residency doesn't matter when it comes to controlling our nation's arteries. If entry on the border is permitted, the highways are where it spreads.
The Loophole Nobody’s Closing
The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) is aware of the problem.
According to Overdrive Online, many homeless applicants — i.e., people without a permanent U.S. address — can obtain CDLs because states are incorrectly issuing them under rules designed for temporary residents.
Forty-three states issue these licenses despite the DHS's warning that the system contains a vulnerability that can be exploited.
That's not even the half of it, because every truck that leaves a port, warehouse, or postal distribution center with a driver without a verifiable set of credentials is a literal moving security risk.
At one time, the government tried to restrict this. For example, the U.S. Postal Service tried to ban contractors from using illegal immigrants to haul mail.
It didn't go well.
Contractors ignored the rule and switched drivers to shell companies that skirted oversight.
What we end up with is a system designed to protect American commerce that is undermining it.
The Cost of Looking Away
Another ATU co-founder, Shannon Everett, was quite blunt: "The real question, I think, America needs to start asking in each one of these wrecks is: whose freight was on the truck, and why are these shippers not being held responsible for loading people who can’t even speak English?"
Everett isn't a bigot by sharing common sense. Truckers need to read safety placards, road signs, and emergency warnings at highway speed. They need to communicate with dispatchers, law enforcement, and weigh stations. It's a deadly outcome if a driver can't understand the language of the road.
In my corporate career, I encountered many non-English-speaking drivers asking for directions to our delivery bay. Several times, I simply pointed to the "Deliveries" sign with an arrow pointing the way.
I think I hurt my neck shaking my head so many times.
Safety Spotlight: The Stakes Are Huge
Cutting straight to the chase, America's highways are dangerous, and when we add large trucks to the mix, that risk magnifies.
According to the National Safety Council, more than 4,354 people died in 2023 in crashes involving large trucks, with 16% being truck occupants, and 65% were from other vehicles.
Other estimates include 170,716 large-truck accidents in 2023, resulting in close to 90,000 injuries.
Unfortunately, things aren't improving; fatal crashes involving large trucks increased from just under 3,000 in 2009 to close to 5,000 in 2023, a 64% increase.
What's alarming is that the higher the baseline risk, the less margin there is for error in driver credentials, oversight, and regulation; a full rig driven by somebody lacking full legal status, robust screening, or consistent oversight increases the chance of tragedy, whether accidental or otherwise.
The public's exposure and vulnerability become clear when nearly 75% of the people killed in large-truck crashes are occupants of other vehicles.
States with extended windshield time that saw the highest percentages of fatalities in semi-truck crashes in 2023 include Wyoming (22%), New Mexico (20%), and North Dakota (18%).
It's an old story: when the industry cuts corners on putting people behind the wheel, odds are stacked against every other driver on the road. Safety is not a box to check; it's a life-and-death variable in the American supply chain.
From Freight to Homeland Security
The most visible form of American infrastructure is trucking, which is also one of the most vulnerable. Over 70% of all freight tonnage in the country is moved by over-the-road trucks; every grocery, Amazon, and military supply chain relies on them.
This reliance is why the problem goes far beyond jobs or paperwork; it's about who we trust with moving goods that define national endurance.
During wartime, sabotage often came disguised as commerce. Today, open license states are facing the same risks. The difference? It's wrapped in red tape instead of espionage.
If illegal immigrants can get CDLs without a full federal background check, the system is only inviting abuse, because those trucks aren't just rolling supply lines, they're tools for crime, smuggling, or worse.
DHS or state agencies forget that every mile of interstate is an extension of national defense when they treat CDL oversight as a mere formality.
Who Owns the Responsibility?
This mess falls on a whole cast of actors: States issue the licenses, the federal government sets the standards, trucking companies hire anybody available, and shippers look the other way as long as their freight moves fast and cheaply.
Volume is rewarded over vigilance, which is the result of a cascade of incentives made available. A few states, such as Wisconsin and Florida, have been tightening documentation standards, but most continue to allow temporary residents to test and drive, leaving law enforcement to sort out the rest.
When does national security become part of the licensing conversation? If pilots, border agents, and even mail carriers are screened, why wouldn't we hold the same scrutiny over people driving a several-ton hammer when it's mishandled?
A single tractor-trailer can weigh 80,000 pounds, which is more than enough to level buildings or highway overpasses. Pretending those credentials are only paperwork rather than protection is pure negligence.
When the Road Mirrors the Border
Our highways have always symbolized America's freedom: the open road, the hum of commerce, the promise of distance. But when enforcement fails, freedom without accountability becomes reckless.
The truth is, the cancer caused by Biden's open border has metastasized onto the interstates. Those policies permitting unchecked border crossings are now showing up behind the wheel of the trucks our country relies on.
Truckers, the very people who keep this country moving, are right to be pissed. They're not yelling about unfair competition; they're warning about survival. Their profession's safety, the credibility of their licenses, and the public's security are traded straight up for political convenience.
Final Thoughts
Biden's border crisis doesn't stop at the fence line; it rolls down I-40, I-10, and I-94 in 18-wheelers driven by people who barely know the system, much less the system knowing them.
The United States can't afford to confuse compassion with complacency, or turn a blind eye to the quiet erosion of its own security.
Truckers, as is their way, are doing what our leaders won't: calling it what it is. They see the threat because they live it every mile marker.
Washington has ruined any institutional trust through its actions over the last several years. If it wants trust restored, start by listening to the people who actually keep the country moving.
The final tally is remarkably simple: when the highways aren't secure, neither is America.
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