(Washington, DC) – The International Brotherhood of Teamsters today denounced efforts by the Department of Transportation (DOT) to fool the American public on the number of unsafe trucks that cross the border from Mexico into the United States. According to the DOT, only about 63,000 unsafe Mexican trucks crossed the border into the 20-mile commercial zone in 1999.

"The figure of 63,000 trucks is misleading and cynical," Teamsters General President James P. Hoffa said. "Unsafe Mexican trucks cross our border more than 4 million times a year. According to the DOT's figures, this means that each truck crosses 71 times and yet they are inspected less than one percent of the time. If the DOT can't inspect the same trucks going back and forth across the border why should the American public trust their guesses on the amount of truck traffic?"

With a totally open border, the truck traffic is expected to increase to more than 7 million crossings by the DOT's own estimates.

A recent ruling by a North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) panel stated that the U.S is in violation of the flawed pact for keeping its border closed to unsafe trucks. The Bush administration intends to follow the panel’s ruling and open the border. If the border is opened completely, the American traveling public will be forced to share the highway with Mexican drivers that have unsafe equipment and no basic worker protections.

"We will continue to fight for the safety of the American motorist," Hoffa added. "American lives are more important than unfair trade agreements."