Immigration and Trucking: The Search for Cheap Labor

A new episode of Parsing Immigration Policy examines the controversy surrounding foreign truck drivers and the issuance of non-domiciled commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs). It also offers policy recommendations for the U.S. Department of Transportation and Congress to address safety and labor concerns in the trucking industry.

The episode features Gord Magill, a third-generation truck driver and author of the forthcoming book End of the Road: Inside the War on Truckers (March release). Drawing on decades of firsthand experience, Magill challenges the claim, frequently promoted by industry lobbyists, that the United States faces a shortage of truck drivers. Instead, he argues the real problem is driver retention due to low wages and undesirable working conditions.

Key issues include:

• The rapid increase in non-domiciled CDLs, originally intended to address interstate residency issues but now widely abused;
• How a “driver shortage” narrative has been used to suppress wages and justify expanded pipelines of cheap foreign labor;
• States issuing CDLs through training centers that fail to meet federal safety and English-language proficiency standards;
• The rise of “chameleon” companies that evade accountability by dissolving and re-forming under new LLCs after repeated safety violations;
• The use of overseas-based trucking firms in the hiring of U.S. truckers;
• Trump-era enforcement efforts aimed at restoring safety on America’s highways.

In the closing commentary, Mark Krikorian, executive director and podcast host, flags a Center blog post on a recent New York Times interview in which President Trump again expressed his support for continued high levels of legal immigration. Krikorian points out that this is not new and that the president is not a restrictionist, but rather a transitional figure, paving the way for the next generation of Republican leaders who do support lower levels of overall immigration.

Host

Mark Krikorian is the Executive Director of the Center for Immigration Studies

Guest

Gord Magill is a third-generation trucker and author

Related

Gord Magill’s Substack, “Autonomous Truck(er)s”

“I'm an American Trucker. Illegal Migrants Are Flooding My Industry.”

Book due out in March: End of the Road: Inside the War on Truckers

Takeaways and Analysis from Trump’s Interview with the New York Times

Intro Montage

Voices in the opening montage:

• Sen. Barack Obama at a 2005 press conference.
• Sen. John McCain in a 2010 election ad.
• President Lyndon Johnson, upon signing the 1965 Immigration Act.
• Booker T. Washington, reading in 1908 from his 1895 Atlanta Exposition speech.
• Laraine Newman as a "Conehead" on SNL in 1977.
• Hillary Clinton in a 2003 radio interview.
• Cesar Chavez in a 1974 interview.
• House Speaker Nancy Pelosi speaking to reporters in 2019.
• Prof. George Borjas in a 2016 C-SPAN appearance.
• Sen. Jeff Sessions in 2008 comments on the Senate floor.
• Candidate Trump in 2015 campaign speech.
• Charlton Heston in "Planet of the Apes".