Federal Agencies Impede Plan to Import Truck Drivers

The house of cards came tumbling down for Hogan Transports soon after the Department of Labor dealt the truckload carrier the ace it wanted: approval to hire foreign drivers on work visas. But in less time than it took the department to issue the certification, it turned around and said no dice — before the applications could even be processed by the Immigration and Naturalization Service.

In June, Hogan Transports, based in St. Louis, announced it would hire 75 to 100 residents of the Caribbean island of Barbados as truck drivers, and according to an Associated Press report, the company did add some Barbadians to its driver force.

But Tom Lansing, Hogan’s director of safety and personnel, declined to comment on the project except to say that “we have not successfully hired foreign drivers.”

Hogan is one of many companies that have looked to hire foreigners to compensate for what trucking says is an industrywide shortage of drivers. While such a shortage is subject to debate, there is no doubt that demand is high for freight transportation in the United States’ robust economy, and carriers are looking for skilled, dedicated drivers to fill the positions created by this demand. But under current immigration laws, the INS refuses to admit foreigners to fill that void, despite any sympathy to trucking claims that may appear in the Labor Department.

For the full story, see the Nov. 29 print edition of Transport Topics. Subscribe today.