The nation's highways are a little bit safer today, thanks to some sharp work by the Border Patrol. From May 11 - 15, the Border Patrol in Arizona ran something called "Operation Checkmate," aimed at rounding up illegal aliens who had been issued commercial driver's licenses (CDLs) and were operating big-rig trucks. 36 illegal aliens are now no longer operating those big trucks.
Border Patrol agents said they nabbed 36 illegal immigrants who were driving tractor trailers on roads during a recent operation in Arizona, highlighting what the Trump administration has described as a wave of migrants getting behind the wheel of dangerous vehicles.
Operation Checkmate was led by the Border Patrol’s Yuma sector and ran from May 11-15.
That's in five days. Five days, and 52 illegal aliens caught, 36 of whom were actually driving:
Agents detected a total of 52 illegal immigrants during the operation, with 36 of them nabbed while driving semitrucks.
“Operation Checkmate reflects our commitment to safeguarding communities and roads from unlawfully present drivers who pose significant risks to public safety,” said Dustin W. Caudle, acting chief patrol agent in Yuma. “My agents are on patrol every day to ensure we stop these individuals and prevent more deadly crashes from occurring on the road across the United States.”
We don't have data on how many couldn't speak or read English, but recent experience suggests we should expect the worst.
Here's the onion:
Of the 36 truck drivers, 29 of them actually had commercial driver’s licenses issued by states, even though the Trump administration says they weren’t supposed to.
The government calls them non-domiciled drivers. Most of them were here on legally iffy Biden immigration leniency programs, such as “humanitarian parole.”
Despite that lack of firm status, a number of states — most notably California, Washington and New York — were willing to issue them commercial driver’s licenses.
Reading between the lines just a little: Note that of 36 illegal aliens actually driving, only 29 of them had CDLs, meaning that seven were driving without any license. It's hard to say which is worse: The fact that someone very likely hired those seven illegal aliens to drive a big rig truck with no license at all, or that the other 36 illegal aliens were issued CDLs from states that are notoriously indifferent to a prospective driver's immigration status or even their literacy.
There have been several high-profile accidents lately caused by commercial drivers who can neither speak nor read English, including one only last week in Virginia that saw five people killed and several more injured.
Read More: Duffy Now Vowing Action After Non-English Speaking Driver's Deadly VA Bus Crash
Still, the Border Patrol and Immigration & Customs Enforcement would seem to be making some progress, along with the Department of Transportation (DoT). States that issue CDLs to illegal aliens are being put under increasing pressure by the DoT. Illegal aliens caught driving trucks are being taken off the road and repatriated. This is all to the good, but there's a lot left to be done; the Biden administration allowed in millions of illegal immigrants, and there are doubtless many more out there driving these big multi-ton beasts.
For now, at least, we'll take this as a win.
Editor’s Note: We voted for mass deportations, not mass amnesty. Help us continue to fight back against those trying to go against the will of the American people.
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