Forty Mexican truckers have lost privileges to drive on U.S. highways due to their lack of English skills, industry officials say.
The order officially went into effect June 26.
Israel Delgado Vallejo, vice president of the Northwest Chapter of the Chamber of Freight Transportation, said the drivers taken out of service were driving through Texas, Mississippi or Arkansas.
“The enforcement has been primarily in these states, but no one has lost their license in California,” he said.
He said drivers who have lost their license to drive in the U.S. face $10,000 to $50,000 ends if they are caught driving again without improved English proficiency.
Delgado Vallejo estimates about 80,000 truck drivers from Mexico cross the border on a daily basis with 70 percent of them lacking the ability to speak or understand enough English to meet the criteria.
“Twenty to 30 percent can easily manage, but the remaining 70 percent probably can’t hold a conversation or know basic English to get by, but if you take them all off the road, it will have severe implications in the supply chain and cripple the economy of both countries,” he said.
Later, he reflects on the urgency to teach a foreign language to Spanish-speaking individuals who never saw the need to learn English despite living along the U.S.-Mexico border their whole lives.
“It’s incredible. They come knowing just the basics they learned at school, basic words like ‘door,’ ‘truck,'” said Montes, who works for a company called SVS. “(But) they’re starting to learn how to communicate the parts of the truck, explain where they work, what they do.”
Their lack of bilingual skills needs to change in a hurry, as the Trump administration steps up enforcement of an English proficiency requirement from the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration.
It requires all commercial drivers, including those who cross into the U.S. from Mexico, to understand traffic signs, respond to emergency situations on the road and communicate clearly with law enforcement if stopped.
“What happens with a driver if his English is not satisfactory? He is taken out of service,” said Manuel Sotelo, president of the Juarez Transportation Association. “The company has to send a driver that complies with the requirements to take over. There could be consequences for the driver and the company, and, above all, the merchandise is delivered late.”
That’s why Sotelo’s company – Fletes Sotelo – and others in Juarez have begun sponsoring English classes for their drivers.
