Six people suspected of sex trafficking — with a teenage girl in the vehicle — were among the 230-plus illegal migrant truck drivers arrested across 15 states during a 72-hour blitz that ran October 26 through 28. The operation, dubbed "Operation Guardian," swept through California, New York, Oklahoma, Indiana, and 11 other states before the public knew it was happening.
Forty of those arrested were carrying Commercial Driver's Licenses they should never have had.
DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin laid out the math, "Too many American lives have been lost because sanctuary states have issued CDLs to tens of thousands of illegal aliens who are unqualified, poorly vetted, do not speak English, and have known criminal histories."
That's not a policy debate. That's a body count with a paper trail leading straight to state DMVs that decided compliance with federal law was optional.
Indiana officers patrolled secondary and bypass routes — the back roads commercial haulers use to dodge weigh stations and checkpoints. One suspect was driving a stolen vehicle and assaulted police officers during the arrest. Others had outstanding felony warrants. These are people who were already running from something before they climbed into an 80,000-pound truck.
Mullin also reminded the press this was an economic enforcement issue too. Illegal alien truckers "absolutely wreak havoc on actual companies that are doing it right," he said. "What we're trying, through the DHS, our partners with state and local officials, is we are trying to restore law and order again." Legitimate carriers spend thousands on compliance, insurance, training, and English-language certification. Their competitors were spending nothing because sanctuary states handed them a CDL and looked the other way.
States like California and New York issued commercial licenses to people who couldn't pass a federal background check, couldn't communicate with dispatch or emergency responders in English, and in at least six cases were apparently involved in trafficking a minor. The CDL wasn't a privilege these drivers earned. It was a liability the states created.
Operation Guardian ran across 15 states in three days. That's not a pilot program. That's a logistics operation that required coordination between DHS, state police, and local law enforcement at a scale the previous administration never attempted — because the previous administration was too busy telling sanctuary cities they were doing the right thing.
The six trafficking suspects were found with a teenage girl in the cab. Forty drivers had CDLs. Two hundred and thirty arrests in 72 hours.
