America’s highways are bleeding—literally and figuratively. Every year, 814 lives are snuffed out in preventable crashes caused by an estimated 130,000 undocumented truckers who lack the English skills, training, and experience to safely navigate our roads. This isn’t just a safety crisis; it’s a betrayal of American workers, a gut punch to the blue-collar backbone of our nation. At White Collar Workers of America, we’re sounding the alarm: illegal licenses must end now, and American truckers deserve their jobs back.
Gord Magill, a veteran trucker with over 25 years on the road, reached out to us with his explosive Substack exposé, “The Replacement of American Truckers”. His article rips the lid off a greedy, deregulated plot—backed by government spinelessness—that’s shoving skilled American truckers aside for a tidal wave of unqualified foreign drivers. Here’s the raw truth they’re desperate to bury, straight from Gord himself—and the battle plan we need to fight back.
The Myth of the “Driver Shortage”
For decades, the American Trucking Association (ATA)—a corporate lobbying juggernaut representing Amazon, Walmart, and other Fortune 500 giants—has peddled a lie: there’s a “driver shortage.” Magill calls bullshit. The real problem? Retention. Big carriers pay poverty wages, treat drivers like disposable cogs, and churn through them faster than a truck stop bathroom. Instead of raising pay or improving conditions, they’ve lobbied for taxpayer-funded training programs—hundreds of millions of dollars funneled to their cronies’ trucking schools—and pushed to import cheap, exploitable labor.
The numbers don’t lie. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics shows trucking employs over 1.5 million drivers, yet the ATA claims a perpetual “shortage” of 80,000. Truckers point out the catch: experienced American truckers are quitting because the job’s been gutted—deregulation slashed wages, electronic logging devices (ELDs) turned drivers into surveilled robots, and companies pocket the savings. Enter the undocumented: a shadow workforce willing to work for peanuts, no questions asked.
The Deadly Cost of Cheap Freight
Lets piece zeroes in on a chilling reality: these replacement drivers are a rolling disaster. In 2016, the Obama administration quietly axed a federal rule requiring commercial drivers to speak and read English fluently. Why? To grease the wheels for corporate profits. The result? An influx of undocumented truckers—many with fake licenses or minimal training—barreling down highways they can’t navigate. No ability to read road signs, no grasp of safety regs, no clue how to handle a 40-ton rig in a snowstorm.
The stats are horrifying. American Truckers United (ATU) estimates 130,000 undocumented drivers are on U.S. roads, linked to 814 deaths annually—more than two a day. Magill cites the Humboldt Broncos crash in Canada, where an untrained immigrant driver killed 16 hockey players, as a warning of what’s coming here. X posts from truckers and safety advocates flood timelines daily with footage of mangled rigs and shattered lives. This isn’t incompetence; it’s a calculated sacrifice of American safety for corporate bottom lines.
American Truckers Betrayed
Our rage is palpable—and justified. American truckers, once the kings of the open road, have been reduced to pawns in a globalist game. Deregulation in the 1980s gutted union power and wages, dropping pay from a middle-class living to barely above minimum wage for grueling 70-hour weeks. ELDs, mandated in 2017, stripped drivers of flexibility, forcing them to drive tired or park miles from home just to comply with a faceless algorithm. Meanwhile, the ATA fights overtime pay laws like the Guaranteeing Overtime for Truckers Act, keeping drivers broke while CEOs rake in millions.
Now, the final insult: replacement. Biden’s open-border policies and visa handouts are flooding the industry with foreign drivers, even as U.S. trucking layoffs hit record highs in 2024. Companies like Amazon don’t care if their freight moves on the backs of exploited illegals—they just want it cheap. American truckers, sidelined and underpaid, watch their livelihoods vanish.
The Fix: Stand Up, Shut It Down
Magill doesn’t just diagnose the disease—he prescribes the cure. First, reverse the Obama-era memo and enforce English proficiency for all commercial drivers. No exceptions. Second, deport undocumented truckers and revoke their illegal licenses—130,000 jobs should go to Americans first. Third, hit the ATA where it hurts: demand Trump’s administration investigate their lobbying and cut off their corporate welfare. Finally, pass the GOT Act to force overtime pay, lifting wages and keeping skilled drivers in the game.
At White Collar Workers of America, we’re all in. Our highways shouldn’t be a dumping ground for globalist greed. American truckers built this country’s supply chain—let’s give them the respect, pay, and jobs they’ve earned. Tweet it, post it, scream it: end illegal licenses, save American lives, and put our truckers back in the driver’s seat.
White-Collar Workers of America 