Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced this week that the U.S. will pause issuing work visas to some overseas truck drivers, warning darkly that they’re “endangering American lives and undercutting the livelihoods of American truckers.”
He supplied no particulars Thursday in his two-sentence publish on the social platform X, leaving some within the trucking trade questioning if many drivers can be affected.
The quick reply: No.
However the announcement seemed to be as a lot about politics as highway security, coming as a deadly Florida crash involving a overseas truck driver turned more and more politicized, with the places of work of two bold governors battling publicly over accountability.
With the Florida crash spilling into nationwide politics, right here’s what you need to know:
It relies upon the way you outline “many,” and the precise quantity isn’t clear. However it seems that at most a number of thousand of the nation’s estimated 3.5 million industrial truck drivers can be affected by the brand new directive.
The pause is geared toward drivers making use of for 3 forms of visas, the State Division mentioned Friday, most notably the H-2B visa for short-term employees.
Solely roughly 1,500 visas for truck drivers have been issued this fiscal 12 months below this system, and 1,400 final 12 months, in keeping with Jeff Joseph, president of the American Immigration Attorneys Affiliation.
This system has helped offset what many observers see as a persistent scarcity of business drivers.
However H-2B visas are capped for many years at 66,000, with drivers making up solely a pair p.c of the overall.
The opposite two visa classes listed by the State Division are the E-2, for individuals who make substantial investments in a U.S. enterprise, and the EB-3, which is for expert employees resembling well being care staff, IT professionals and expert tradespeople like electricians.
The Proprietor-Operator Impartial Drivers Affiliation, a commerce affiliation representing small-business truck drivers, applauded the administration for “seeing by way of the parable of a truck driver scarcity and persevering with efforts to revive commonsense security requirements on our nation’s highways.”
The affiliation dismisses speak of shortage, saying there are sometimes unbiased truckers out there however firms want drivers who price much less.
Jerry Maldonado of the Laredo Motor Carriers Affiliation, a gaggle of 200 trucking firms working on either side of the southern border, was relieved when the State Division launched extra particulars about Rubio’s announcement.
Mexican and Canadian drivers function within the U.S. with B-1 visas, he mentioned, which permit non-U.S. residents to enter the nation briefly. Some anxious these visas may be paused.
“The announcement did scare some individuals, however I’m glad for the clarification,” Maldonado mentioned.
Rubio’s announcement got here after three individuals have been killed when truck driver Harjinder Singh made an illegal U-turn on a freeway, in keeping with the state’s Freeway Patrol.
A close-by minivan slammed into Singh’s trailer as he made the flip. Singh and his passenger weren’t injured.
The Division of Homeland Safety mentioned Monday that Singh, a local of India, was within the nation illegally.
The crash quickly turned political, with supporters of Florida’s Republican governor, Ron DeSantis, blaming California’s Democratic governor, Gavin Newsom.
Each males have been talked about as potential presidential contenders.
Homeland Safety mentioned Singh obtained a industrial driver’s license in California, considered one of 19 states that points licenses no matter immigration standing, in keeping with the Nationwide Immigration Legislation Heart.
“Three lives misplaced due to Gavin Newsom. Due to California’s failed insurance policies,” Florida Lt. Gov. Jay Collins mentioned Thursday at a information convention in Stockton, California.
Singh, who flew to California after the Aug. 12 crash, was arrested by U.S. Marshals in that metropolis.
DeSantis despatched Collins to California to supervise Singh’s return to Florida, the place he’s charged with three counts of vehicular murder and immigration violations. Collins, accompanied by legislation enforcement personnel, escorted Singh onto the aircraft.
A Newsom spokesperson known as Collins’ journey a “photograph op” and criticized Florida officers for letting a “homicide suspect stroll.”
Trump administration and Florida officers insist that their issues middle on immigration and highway security.
In current months the administration has taken steps to implement English-language proficiency necessities for truckers, following incidents through which drivers’ potential to learn indicators or converse English may have contributed to site visitors deaths.
On Friday the State Division additionally mentioned the federal government is launching a assessment of the way it screens overseas drivers and “enhanced vetting” will apply to these with out legitimate visas.
Others see issues in a different way.
“It’s a part of this sport to point out the voters who put Trump in energy that he’s doing his every day job to implement immigration,” mentioned Joseph, of the American Immigration Attorneys Affiliation. “You create concern and panic in communities that there’s a bunch of unlawful alien drivers on the roads.”
