Teamsters File Court Letter Against Mexican Trucks Program

The Teamsters union said late Monday it filed a letter with a federal appeals court claiming the Bush administration broke laws in continuing to allow long-haul trucks from Mexico to use U.S. highways.

The Teamsters said the letter, filed with the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals in San Francisco, said Congress passed an omnibus budget, signed into law Dec. 26 that includes a provision banning funds “to establish a cross-border motor carrier demonstration program to allow Mexico-domiciled motor carriers to operate beyond the commercial zones.”

The Bush administration pretends the law does not apply to the existing program. It has said it will continue to allow some trucks from Mexico to travel beyond the narrow border zone.

The union said it believes the pilot program creates a dangerous precedent on U.S. highways because Mexican trucks and truck drivers are not held to the same safety standards as their U.S. counterparts.

The group Public Citizen, which filed suit in the same court last month in an effort to block the program, said Monday that the program now included 12 Mexico-based carriers that have sent 57 trucks onto U.S. roads and no longer restricted to the border zone.

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