Trucking wants crackdown on “cabotage,” illegal hiring of Mexico's drivers in U.S.

The illegal use of Mexican B-1 drivers for domestic trucking is a growing concern for the trucking industry. The American Trucking Associations brought this issue to light at the Truckload Carriers Association’s conference last week, blaming the practice for contributing to the difficult freight market.

“If you are using Mexican B-1 drivers to haul domestic loads, that is illegal. It is called cabotage,” Bob Costello, ATA’s chief economist, said during a presentation at Truckload 2025 in Arizona. “It’s another reason why the market has been bad.”

The true extent of Mexican cabotage is unclear, but Costello and other industry stakeholders see a problem caused by significant violations of under-enforced laws.

How common is this type of cabotage?

Criminal activity is hard to quantify, making the relevance of cabotage challenging to determine. During his presentation to truckload fleet executives, Costello said a Customs and Border Protection official at the Port of Laredo told him that U.S. fleets are using Mexican drivers often.

“He was like, ‘Oh, it’s absolutely happening, and it’s happening a lot,’” Costello said.

According to Costello, the CBP official said that companies are telling Mexican B-1 drivers, once they enter the U.S., to take one of their trucks to make domestic hauls.

FleetOwner reached out to CBP about the topic.

“U.S. Customs and Border Protection takes cabotage seriously,” Rick Pauza, public affairs officer for CBP, told FleetOwner. “CBP routinely conducts outreach to advise carriers and brokers on the consequences for cabotage, and allegations of cabotage are addressed at the local level.”

Cabotage raid in Arizona

While CBP enforcement focuses near ports of entry, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is more likely to enforce cabotage laws.

The last major media coverage of a cabotage crackdown occurred in 2018; ICE’s Homeland Security Investigations issued criminal charges against two Arizona trucking business owners and seized tractors and trailers from five local companies.

According to Nogales International, federal agents noticed that Mexican truckers with B-1 visas picked up domestic U.S. loads and hauled them further north. Federal agents already reportedly warned the trucking companies to cease the practice.

Both charged business owners pleaded guilty to unlawful employment of aliens a year later, allegedly each employing at least eight undocumented immigrants. The court ordered them to pay $20,000 each and forfeit multiple trucks.

In 2019, a Teamsters-commissioned firm in Mexico City investigated the B-1 driver market around Nuevo Laredo. The firm, Empower, investigated online forums and directly contacted individual drivers and carriers. It found that the B-1 employment model was growing in popularity among carriers for its competitive advantages—and that many carriers likely directed B-1 drivers to violate cabotage laws.

“Some employers have better reputations than others, but many, if not most, appear to at least occasionally require that drivers violate cabotage law by leaving from the U.S. side of the border,” Empower’s report said. “This is something B-1 drivers try to avoid at all costs: The constant vigilance required to avoid it in online job forums would seem to indicate that it is a very common, if unannounced, job requirement.”

Violating cabotage laws undermines rates, safety

Carriers that violate cabotage laws introduce problems for the trucking industry. The practice is unsafe and could be pushing down freight rates.

The practice could push down freight rates

Driver wages are the greatest per-mile operational costs for fleets, and carriers can pay significantly less for Mexican driver labor than they would for U.S.-based drivers.

Empower’s 2019 report estimated that a typical B-1 driver wage was about 27 cents per mile (35 cents adjusted for inflation), and a B-1 team wage was 18 cents per driver per mile (23 cents adjusted).

Meanwhile, average domestic driver wages are likely much higher. The American Transportation Research Institute estimated carriers paid drivers 78 cents per mile on average in 2024. The Bureau of Labor Statistics does not track per-mile pay but estimated the average truck driver’s hourly pay was $26.12 in 2023. For U.S. long-haul drivers, that roughly means 48 to 78 cents per mile.

If a significant number of carriers employ B-1 drivers for domestic routes, the practice would put downward pressure on freight rates overall. The opportunity to pay a B-1 driver effectively half the standard per-mile rate allows a carrier profit from hauling loads even when for-hire rates dip below average operational costs. That could also be exacerbating trucking’s overcapacity woes.

However, the March 17 presentation by ATA’s chief economist framed the issue optimistically, saying a crackdown could be a boon for carriers.

“The bigger thing for all of you is this will also cut down on capacity when we get them to start cracking down on it, which is hopefully in the not-too-distant future, so we are working hard on this,” Costello said.

Risk to highway safety

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration requires motor carriers to ensure that their drivers are qualified to operate safely. Those qualifications include English proficiency to understand traffic signs and converse with the public.

While foreign drivers are not necessarily unqualified, illegally employing Mexican B-1 drivers for domestic transportation concerns many trucking industry stakeholders. Carriers that freely ignore cabotage laws are more likely to ignore safety-critical regulations, bringing unqualified drivers to roadways. Trucking forum members regularly share their experiences with drivers who cannot understand English.

“If you’re in a situation where you don’t speak the native language, it’s easy to make mistakes because you don’t know what is expected,” Todd Spencer, president of the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association, told FleetOwner. “These can be mistakes in regular aspects of the job—or mistakes that can dramatically impact and undermine highway safety.”

FMCSA’s roadside inspections in the last four years recorded 30,000 drivers that could not speak English sufficiently—roughly 0.16% of all inspection violations.

Trucking industry pushes for crackdown

Trucking industry groups are calling on the federal government to better enforce cabotage laws against Mexican B-1 drivers.

“It [enforcement] certainly needs to pick up in its intensity because, realistically, there has been virtually none,” OOIDA’s Spencer said.

ATA now publicly supports a crackdown on the issue.

“ATA fully supports a crackdown on the illegal use of B-1 Mexican drivers hauling domestic loads,” Jeremy Kirkpatrick, ATA’s VP of communications, told FleetOwner. “It is illegal and needs to stop immediately. We have brought this issue to the attention of [Homeland Security Investigations] and other law enforcement agencies, and we will be working with them to crack down on U.S. fleets engaged in this illegal practice.”

Costello said that if federal agencies follow through on a crackdown, the consequences for violating carriers could be significant. He warned CBP would impose civil and criminal penalties against motor carriers using these drivers.

“They’re not going to crack down on the drivers,” Costello said. “They’re going to go after the fleets. They can issue big fines. There have been people in the past that have gone to jail for this. So, hopefully, nobody in this room is doing it—if you are, here’s your warning.”