Mexican Trucks Come into US - Otay Mesa, CA (pics)

Campo Minutemen | 9/18/07

[Ladycalif]

While the Minutemen protest, the Teamster try to recruit the Mexican Drivers.

[wastedyears]

Something has to be done.

[wolfinator]

Those look like pretty safe and solid trucks to me. Glad to see the cops there keeping tabs on the Teamsters.

[mvpel]

Translation of the Teamsters’ flyer:

---

ATTENTION DRIVERS!

The administrators of the US and of Mexico are using NAFTA to ignore the safety of American and Mexican drivers and of the public.

The workers in Mexico and the US need reform in commercial politics and labor law.

Now is when we have organizations for the improvement of benefits, hours, and work conditions.

The hour to resist this movement to open the (”fro...” “frontera” = border, perhaps?) and break the union is now!

---

[mvpel]

So maybe they’re not trying to recruit the Mexican drivers, but galvanize Spanish-speaking Latino American Teamsters.

[Sybeck1]

Wonder how many cents per mile they haul for? They might could save some companies some money you know....

[gcruse]

Something WAS done. This was shunted off into the blogs forum, where it won’t be seen because blogger pictures are, you know, just not as reliable as MSM photoshopping.

[skeeter]

I’m sure they kept an especially close eye on that one senior with the bluecollar hands holding the big American flag - he looked particularly shifty.

[wolfinator]

Roger that. And I bet they don’t lurk on highway overpasses during their off hours taking shots at non-union drivers either!

[Ladycalif]

Thanks - they would not let us have one

[Sybeck1]

Well, we might get Guatemalans for a little more less you know.

[Old Flat Toad]

Look at the black semi making a left. Swinging wide is necessary but into the opposing traffics lane is not.

[Ladycalif]

ping

[wolfinator]

I’ll bet he was just nervous, first time in the U.S. and all.

But I see trucks here in my home town doing that all the time. We try to give ‘em the space they need.

[mvpel]

He probably wanted to be sure to avoid clipping the black car illegally parked too close to the intersection.

[CzarNicky]

He probably wanted to be sure to avoid clipping the black car illegally parked too close to the intersection.

that was my thought.

[Khepera]

I guess we are no longer a sovereign nation.
We no longer have a southern border.

[TheSpottedOwl]

I see.....dead people!

Man, look at that black truck. Not to be trivial or childish, but haven’t they heard of truck stops where you can wash your truck? Maybe it’s better they don’t, that way we can spot them, before the mufflers come flying off into our windshields...

[pax_et_bonum]

I Feel Violated ping

[Jean S]

...the Teamster try to recruit the Mexican Drivers.

Where, when and how? Which pic has the recruiting Teamsters in it?

[SnarlinCubBear]

Nafta opened the door to this. I don’t like the idea of protesters. The truck drivers are doing nothing illegal.

[Ladycalif]

[notaliberal]

maybe it's time to do another one of these: Washington Times"

Oh, never mind they wouldn't listen to us any way

[WestCoastGal]

I guess they’re immune from smog checks.

[Old Flat Toad]

It’s a possibility. I’m looking at the geometry of the corner and thinking the black car with the window down is finishing its turn. Parked illegaly, diagonaly in the gutter, in a red zone, with heavy police coverage makes no sense.

[LasVegasMac]

Those look like pretty safe and solid trucks to me.

You're eyesight must be awesome.

I could not discern the condition of the brake's, the air system, what shape the tires are in, etc.

Good on ya.

[Spunky]

What did they do? Steal a railroad boxcar and put it on the truck bed?

[Oatka]

Those look like pretty safe and solid trucks to me.

They DO look OK, but, betcha it ends up being "bait and switch". Put their best drivers and trucks in the first one hundred.

Fearless Forecast: Once those first one hundred are accepted, non-English speakers and rickety trucks will appear in droves.

[humblegunner]

What did they do? Steal a railroad boxcar and put it on the truck bed?

Uh.. that's a container, forty foot.

They get stacked on container vessels and shipped all over the world.

Very handy.

Trouble is, America has dandy container loading and unloading facilities of it's own.

We don't need Julio & Paco & Mohammed to load 'em up with drugs or illegals and truck 'em in.

[CzarNicky]

Parked illegaly, diagonaly in the gutter, in a red zone, with heavy police coverage makes no sense.

I take it you are not a teamster.

[Spunky]

"While the Minutemen protest, the Teamster try to recruit the Mexican Drivers.

Where did you ever get that idea? Don't you read?

Teamsters seek injunction against Mexican trucks in U.S. By JESSE J. HOLLAND The Associated Press WASHINGTON — The Teamsters union said Wednesday it will ask a federal appeals court to block the Bush administration's plan to allow Mexican trucks to carry cargo anywhere in the United States.

From Nation and World

[Ladycalif]

You mean maybe the Teamster’s are duplicitous?

We talked to them at length. That is what they were doing.

[Ladycalif]

First Hand Report Subject: Union Leader SELLOUT at Otay Mesa this Morning I got up early, and showed up at the Otay Mesa truck inspection station on Enrico Fermi Road. I saw fellow Minuteman Ken there, and he was the only other person with an American flag, besides me. Wondering what WE THE PEOPLE could do to stop this nonsense, I was hopeful when I heard the Teamsters were finally going to do something, and hold a protest at the inspections station this morning at 6:00am. When I got there, I saw about 5 police/CHP crusiers and 30 union people carrying small signs complaining about the safety of the Mexican trucks, and giving numerous interviews to all the media (Fox11, 600AM, 8-CBS, etc.). When I started to discuss with some of the union people the fact that ALL American workers were being sold out, and that we all need to stick together (I'm an Engineer who has been affected by the H1-B Visa insourcing), they really didn't have any comments at that point... but then, I noticed Ken down on the corner, and walked that way. Shortly thereafter, Ken noticed one of the Union Leaders distributing flyers to the Mexican Truckers, away from all the cameras - he was trying to ORGANIZE THEM! Ken was incensed! When I saw this, I became disgusted and immediately rolled up my flag, and started walking to my truck to leave... as I went by the crowd of "union picketers" at the inspection station exit, I yelled out that one of their union leaders was handing out flyers trying to organize the Mexican Truckers down the street, and they basically ignored me, or gave annoying little "we are so smart that we are pulling the wool over everybody" smiles - all except for one big fat guy that threatened to "knock me out", and said that he "didn't care if he went to prison"... I stood up to him, and basically told him I wasn't interested in hanging around with traitors, and then left. It is all too clear to me that this "protest" was simply an act by the TEAMSTER leaders to attempt to appease their members into thinking they are trying to do something (all the while trying to organize the Mexican Truckers behind the backs of the lazy media). Remember that the TEAMSTER leaders appealed last week to the 9th “Circus” court of appeals, the MOST LIBERAL in the land - because they obviously wanted to lose! These leaders are a bunch of FAKES! Also remember that the AFL-CIO leadership appealed last week (and won!) a stay of the DHS informing employers of tough new policies regarding SSNs and hiring of ILLEGAL workers. Something must be done to REALLY organize the truckers and people to stop this wholesale sellout of our country by the current administration, socialist judges, greedy big business, and sellout union leadership. - ST

[humblegunner]

Ken was incensed! When I saw this, I became disgusted

Same thing happens to me when I read a 20 line post with no paragraphs.

Keep up the good work, but don't ignore your education.

[Old Flat Toad]

Nope.

[fweingart]

Those look like pretty safe and solid trucks to me.

The should be. You helped pay for them.

[CzarNicky]

I didn’t think so. You used logic and common sense to conclude a normal person wouldn’t park there. But they would even under those circumstances in the hope of a hit to further their agenda.

[Ladycalif]

It had paragraphs but when I hit “post: they all went away. I think because it was a cut and paste from an email.

[WilliamofCarmichael]

It's a little disconcerting reading the federal guidelines for local and state authorities. They may not pull over or stop Mexican drivers, they may approach a Mexican truck "only after it has come to rest." :)

[BillyAqua]

I guess they are hauling the goods that American truckers don't want to haul. Or, could it be they are working for less money and big business is increasing their bottom line by importing cheap labor? (sorry for the rhetorical question).

Illegal immigration is being pushed and ground right into our faces, and even a bi-partisan, national uprising by the people hasn't been able to stop it. Seems to me that the days of representative government are gone. Oh well, as fat Teddy Kennedy shouted out to an hispanic crowd recently, "hasta la victorrria".

[Eaker]

Do you see a single GPS dome on any of these trucks? Pretty standard here. I guess once these Mexican trucks cross the border they can go wherever they want. The costs will be low because inspections, insurance, both vehicular and cargo, and commercial licenses cost money and they don’t need them.

Be ready to tip yer hat to the last American trucker. While the Mexican illegal alien criminal pisses out his first beer of the morning in your front yard with neighbor kids waiting nearby on their school bus so he can hop in his illegally parked truck and further Bush’s agenda.

If Hillary wins that will be five Clinton Presidents in a row.

[frankiep]

Don’t worry. Soon we will all be going to the polls to elect another Beltway Insider to drag us down the tubes even more. It really doesn’t even matter which party our next ‘leader’ will come from.

[mvpel]

Considering that there does appear to be a driver in that car, you may be right, however, it appears that the truck is also coming out of the rightmost lane, where the black car would have had to turn from, and at normal street speeds the black car would have been long gone before the truck made it that far into the intersection.

Perhaps the black car stopped to talk with the guys on the side of the road after making the turn.

[dragnet2]

Where is the jack spikes??

[Hatband]

I see plenty of 10-15 year old cabovers, scraped fenders and home made repairs with a few late model conventionals like the black Pete making the turn. Note the smoke stained corner of the van being pulled by an old cabover. The engine is either over fueled or it needs to have the rack run and maybe some new injectors. Not many automatic slack adjusters (automatically adjusts the brakes) on those rigs. The driver has to crawl under the truck and manually adjust the brakes with a wrench. If that’s the ‘cream of the crop’ I don’t want to even be close to the real Mexican junk. ‘Safe and solid’ indeed. BTW, wolfinator, what was your criteria for determining those trucks safe and solid. Paint color?

[Candor7]

Otay, Otay,

Eeeenuff wid deez twuks!

De wet back expwess iz gonna stawt.

[Greysard]

Trouble is, America has dandy container loading and unloading facilities of it's own.

I thought Saudis and other Emirates bought them all by now... but I guess not, there are a few left for China to pick up. Ni hao ma? - I'm learning already :-(

We don't need Julio & Paco & Mohammed to load 'em up with drugs or illegals and truck 'em in.

You don't understand, this way the more expensive Bill, Jim and Sam, dock workers in Texas, can be sent packing. You see, if a country produces less and less, it gets richer and richer. Didn't they teach this in school? Talk about national security...

473 million tons of cargo handled by Texas ports in 2003 accounted for nearly one million jobs for Texans and more than $30 billion in economic impact.

(from here).

Mexico has some 10,000 kilometers of coastline but few navigable rivers and no good natural harbors. The country's 2,900 kilometers of navigable rivers and coastal canals play only a minor role in the transportation system. In the early 1990s, Mexico's seventy-five maritime ports and nine river ports handled 65 percent of imports and 70 percent of nonpetroleum exports. The flow of freight through Mexican ports exceeded 163 million tons of cargo in 1990, representing 31 percent of total freight carried by all modes. The five largest ports--Tampico, Veracruz, Guaymas, Mazatlán, and Manzanillo--handled 80 percent of Mexico's ocean freight.

(from here.)

So another outsourcing is coming, and its messengers are already driving the trucks here. Guess where the new investments will be sent to?

[janetgreen]

We don't need Julio & Paco & Mohammed to load 'em up with drugs or illegals and truck 'em in.

BTTT

I wonder who checked these trucks for "contraband"?

The decider doesn't want to "upset relations with Mexico" but he has no problem insulting American citizens and workers.

[Timbo64]

The only way I would drive a cabover is if I had to make daily stops in NYC or Chicago on those tight a$$ docks. You are right about the smoke stain on the front of the van. Some of these trucks look like rejects from a bankrupt truck driving school.

OTOH, I would love to have a custom Kenworth K100 Aerodyne to take to truck shows.