Feds arresting hundreds of immigrant truckers in multi-state operations
Federal and state law enforcement agencies are arresting truck drivers they say are in the country illegally. The announcements from Texas and New York come days after the U.S. Department of Transportation revoked 17,000 non-domiciled commercial driver licenses.
States pressed on their issuance of CDLs to migrants maintain that previous presidential administrations had given these people temporary asylum status or other permissions to be in the country.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott announced Wednesday the arrests of 31 immigrant truck drivers they suspect to be in the country illegally. The Tuesday, Nov. 11, operation was conducted jointly between the state Department of Public Safety and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
“Millions of Texans drive on our highways, roads, and streets every day,” Abbott said in a statement. “When illegal immigrants break the law and illegally drive on our roads, they endanger the lives of countless Texans and Americans.”
Out of 105 inspections authorities conducted, 31 drivers couldn’t verify to Texas police that they were in the country legally. All were later confirmed by ICE to lack legal status.
New York busts
Meanwhile, ICE was conducting inspections in upstate New York in search of truck drivers without legal status.
From Saturday, Nov. 8 through Tuesday, Nov. 11, ICE inspected drivers at 10 locations along Interstate 90 in the western New York area. The sweeps resulted in arrests of 30 immigrants ICE said had valid CDLs but lacked authorization to be in the country. The drivers were issued licenses in nine states, the agency said in a Monday news release.
“Drivers who are not fluent or with little to no ability to speak or read English pose a serious risk on our roadways, especially when operating large vehicles that require a high level of skill and understanding of traffic laws,” said Acting Buffalo Sector Chief Patrol Agent James D’Amato.
Both Abbott and ICE said most of those apprehended during vehicle inspections gave police CDLs issued in California.
California CDLs
The arrests come amid threats from the U.S. Department of Transportation to pull $160 million in federal funding from California unless it revokes all commercial drivers licenses it has issued to foreign nationals in the country illegally. California’s DMV in late October said that it is in compliance with emergency federal regulations that took effect Monday, Sept. 29, and that the federal government previously allowed CDLs for asylum seekers and refugees.
DOT said Wednesday that it had issued revocation notices to what it said were 17,000 CDLs issued to immigrants without legal status in the country.
“This is just the tip of the iceberg. My team will continue to force California to prove they have removed every illegal immigrant from behind the wheel of semitrucks and school buses,” Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said in a statement.
Earlier enforcement efforts include more than 140 suspected unauthorized immigrant truck drivers arrested in Indiana, and several more in Oklahoma, including at least one without a name given that was issued in New York. Like California, New York officials maintain that the CDLs are issued to migrants in the country on asylum or temporary status as granted by the federal government during previous administrations.
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Ella Rae Greene, Editor In Chief
