MEXICAN'S TRUCKS * USA - OOIDA challenges regulatory inequities built into cross-border trucking proposal

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association challenged the DOT’s legal authority to give Mexican motor carriers a free pass from some U.S. regs in comments filed last week

Grain Valley,MO,USA -Land Line Magazine, by Jami Jones -May 17, 2011:  ...   On May 13, OOIDA submitted its official comments to the docket on the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration’s...  The Association points out that the only way the DOT can excuse compliance with the regulations is to grant a waiver – something that is not required under NAFTA...  The DOT’s cross-border plan states that the Mexican LF (CDL), Mexican driver medical qualification standards and Mexican drug testing procedures will be accepted in place of compliance with U.S. standards...   The Association’s comments state that based on a Supreme Court decision, the agency doesn’t have the authority to depart from the requirement that all motor carriers demonstrate they are willing and able to comply with U.S. laws and regulations...  The comments also reminded the DOT of a 2001 NAFTA Tribunal decision that ultimately ruled against the U.S. for refusing to consider authority applications from Mexican motor carriers, but did not matter-of-factly state that the border must be opened...  That decision, OOIDA contends, allows the DOT latitude in implementing additional procedures, as long as it is done in good faith...  Following the close of the comment period, the DOT initially anticipated that it would respond to comments within 30 days and release a final plan 60 days after that, or sometime in mid-August...  (Photo courtesy of Chiapas state government: X-ray images show many of the immigrants standing in a trailer, and authorities say the images tipped off law enforcement officers)

* Mexico - Police find hundreds of migrants in US

Chiapas,Mexico -The Guardian (UK) -18 May 2011: -- Police in Mexico's southern Chiapas state found 513 migrants on Tuesday inside in cramped conditions in two trailer trucks bound for the United States. Police discovered the migrants while using X-ray equipment on the trucks at a checkpoint... Some of the immigrants were suffering from dehydration after travelling for hours clinging to cargo ropes strung inside the containers to keep them upright and to allow more migrants to be more crammed in on the floor... The trucks had air holes punched in the tops of the containers, but migrants interviewed at the state prosecutors' office said they lacked air and water. The trucks were bound for the central city of Puebla, where the migrants said they had been told they would be loaded onto a second set of vehicles for the trip to the US border...