📋 Episode Summary:
In this episode of Arkansas 1st Reports, host Kandi Cox is joined by Shannon Everett, co-founder of American Truckers United. Together, they tackle the growing crisis within the American trucking industry—highlighting how unvetted drivers, open border policies, and corrupt brokerage practices are putting lives at risk and crushing wages. Shannon shares how American Truckers United is fighting back with advocacy, reform efforts, and grassroots mobilization. They also break down HB1569, the Secure Roads and Safe Trucking Act of 2025, and discuss how his efforts have made an impact all the way to the Federal level with President Trump’s executive order requiring English proficiency for all U.S. commercial truck drivers. If you care about safety, sovereignty, and standing up for hardworking Americans, this is an episode you won’t want to miss.
📋 Episode Transcript:
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welcome to Arkansas First Reports I’m your host Candy Cox and today we’re diving into a critical topic that affects every American who relies on the strength safety and integrity of our nation’s supply chain the state of the American trucking industry Joining me is a powerhouse voice on this issue Shannon Everett He’s the co-founder of American Truckers United This organization has become a bold voice in the fight to protect the rights of American truckers and bring accountability back to an industry under siege According to their mission the industry is at a crossroads plagued by influx and untrained unvetted drivers largely due to open borders and weak enforcement resulting in a surge of fatal crashes and suppressed wages Shannon has been on the front lines advocating for common sense reforms greater transparency and brokerage practices and the enforcement of safety standards that put American lives first Today we’ll talk about the biggest threats facing our truckers from overreaching federal regulations to foreign labor displacement and the real life comp consequences of allowing illegal and unqualified drivers behind the wheel of an 80,000 pound machine on our highways We’re also going to break down the differences between the House Bill that Shannon advocated for House Bill 1569 which was the Secure Roads and Safe Trucking Act of 2025 and House Bill 1745 which passed We’ll also touch on President Trump’s executive order requiring English proficiency for com for commercial drivers which is already making waves across the industry and what more needs to be done This episode is all about truth transparency and taking back control of American roads Buckle up It’s going to be a powerful ride Shannon welcome to the show Hey good morning Candy Thank you for being with us today you know this uh this bill actually started you and I were talking about um as a resolution that you brought to the um Sel excuse me the Selen County Republican women Uh and uh you presented that and it and you presented why it was important because you have all you know years and years in the trucking industry and um it passed unanimously overwhelmingly uh by the women of that of that club So talk to me about this Yeah So you know I think that’s one of the most interesting things about this has been my experience in uh being involved politically Yeah You know I never was a very political person I mean I I’ve always followed politics but I I I’ve never run for office I’ve never campaigned for anybody or or helped anybody run a campaign And so there’s a whole different side of this that you don’t see until you engage and get involved in all of that Right And so I was I was very active in uh men’s ministry And one of those one of those men uh was Randy Sams who’s member of our Sling County Republican Committee He’s also my he’s also my next door neighbor Yes Uh another member of the Republican committee um had reached out to me and and uh that’s Carol Uh she’s also a neighbor of mine right and they both kind of approached me and and knew I was passionate about some issues in in uh in government and and said ‘Hey you need to come check out the uh the committee meetings And I said you know I attended those a couple years ago but I haven’t been very involved And they’re like no no it’s different now You know you you need to come check it out People are like really taking action and getting involved in things that matter It’s not just like a procedural meeting And so I said “Okay I’ll come check it out.” And so my very first meeting um Jennifer Lancaster was speaking and she was talking about it being a spiritual battle Yes And she was quoting scripture She was quoting Ephesians 6:10 talking about the armor of God and uh and that we were to approach everything spiritually What she didn’t know and I I didn’t know Jennifer at the time I’d never met her before in my life But she didn’t know at that time I had a coin in my pocket that I when I get a chance to pray with someone I hand out those coins and on those coins it’s Ephesians 6:10 It’s the armor and it tells you that it’s a spiritual battle and you start every day you know in fellowship with the Lord So you can approach it from a spiritual perspective right and so it’s funny I was reminding Jennifer yesterday I was like uh I know you didn’t know You probably thought I was weird but when she got through speaking she walked by me in the crowd I hand her that coin Yeah And just it was confirmation for me They always say like God winks at us and so he confirms uh his plan for us and like where he wants us to be and what he wants us to do And so Jennifer saying that in that meeting and me having that in the pocket and us having that exchange was a confirmation for me It was a Godwink for me It’s like you’re supposed to be here right and uh and so I I took that very seriously And so I I did I engaged um and uh got very involved and and uh attended all the meetings and and Randy and Carol was right It was different You know we we had a lot of people The community was very engaged and people were showing up and and speaking up and well it was the largest committee in the state It had grown by leaps and bounds by grassroots people who were ready to make changes and it was almost unanimously all people that were in support of the Make America Great Again movement in support of um our president uh who has now been elected And so it was it was really just refreshing and exciting and to kind of see all of that And what everybody didn’t know is and which which we don’t know about everyone in the room right we’re all walking through different things in life That’s right You know and so like God used Jennifer to speak to me God used you to speak to me because I saw courage in you I saw courage in Jennifer and I saw courage in Randy and I saw courage in Carol It’s like where’s that coming from and I saw very quickly like hey you know this is this is bigger than politics There’s a spiritual thing going on here Right And uh because that courage comes from Christ It’s the only place it comes from That’s right Like I didn’t do anything God did everything That’s right You know and so uh and that and that’s I think that’s one of the great messages too is like just draw near to him Have fellowship with him like for it’s okay for you to have a plan but his plan’s way better right and so just be okay with his plan right walk every day and accept uh because I’m I’m going to tell you as we get through this story everything he did was way better than anything I did Yeah Yeah Because he knows the ending before we know the beginning right And so it’s like it’s so amazing But um and so anyway so I I see all this activity going on and and and then there’s the crash of uh and and so I’m I’m I’m kind of I’m starting with the committee here but there’s a there’s a backstory right about the trucking uh issue but uh so I’m going to I’m going to keep going on this and we we’ll go probably go back in history a little bit later but so I’m seeing all this activity going on and I’ve got a backstory and and my backstory is in trucking and My backstory is in illegal immigration and how it’s affecting the trucking industry and how it’s affecting highway safety and and so I’m seeing all this stuff and um I’d been I’ve been going through a period of my life where I was just drawn really close to the Lord like I I call it cave time And uh cave time is uh is the story of King David um when he was running from Saul and he was in the cave of Adelum and he spent all that time in fear and he was hiding out and uh but that that everybody gets cave time Yeah It looks different for everybody you know Um but uh it’s it’s so good Uh at the time you don’t know it’s good Right Right But when you look back it’s just like man I really needed that you know because uh so there’s we think it’s all us We think it’s our plans and and what we don’t realize is God has a plan for us And uh and uh I learned that in my cave time And so I was going through cave time when I come to this committee Uh I had I I’d just come out of the cave really and and was starting to kind of revitalize I guess and and walk with the Lord in a strong strong powerful way And um and so when I saw everybody’s uh spirit and I saw what was going on I was like “Wow this is this is amazing.” And and then Scott Miller died and and Scott Miller the Scott Miller crash This starts getting into how all this got going but um Scott Miller was a man in Colorado and this was national news and uh he was hit by a truck driver that was an illegal immigrant that had already been deported from the country 16 times Uh did not have a US commercial driver’s license And uh because of my industry experience I knew how he got here right i knew how he got back every time Yeah And I really So there’s so much going on in my life at the time I’ve got so much to this but I really felt the Lord tell me “Okay it’s time.” Yeah You know it’s time and this is it And and so I I was I feel like I was called into this by the Lord very clearly Very clearly and uh so I reached out to the family and um of course I didn’t get an answer from them Couldn’t it was hard to track them down and I at the time I wasn’t even on social media Um I hadn’t had social media in I don’t 15 years or more No Facebook no Twitter none of that stuff right i was really antisocial media And I still am unless you got to get a message out you know right and uh but uh couldn’t reach the family And so I said “Okay well I’m going to start investigating crashes.” And and so I started looking into crashes and I found the crash of Mark Bryant Very quickly what I did is I went to the Arkansas Highway Police website where they list fatal crashes fatal and that’s motorcycle crash And by the way I advise you if you ride a motorcycle don’t go to that website and look cuz almost every fatal crash in Oregon it’s it’s ridiculous You’ll see a truck crash car crash motorcycle motorcycle motorcycle Exactly It really woke me up It’s like man I’m not letting anybody But I’m going Yeah My boys keep wanting a motorcycle and I’m like mom is just not in favor of motorcycles And this comes from someone who used to ride motorcycles that And so I was scrolling through this data and then I see this crash and uh it’s a guy named Mark Bryant It’s in Lawrence County and um I see the truck and everything involved I was like I’m going to check that out So I I called the state police and they said “It’s under investigation We can’t give you a copy of the report.” And so if you don’t know anybody can go access a crash report uh from the Arkansas State Police for 10 bucks Uh you just have to have the day of the crash and the name of the victim and some other information and you can go see what’s going on with these truck crashes And I encourage y’all to do that We need we need to hold these people accountable That’s right And so I I couldn’t get the report So um I started trying to reach out to his family to see if they could give me information on how he died And that’s when I met Leona And so I I did some research on Facebook and other places and I found Leona which was the ex-wife of Mark Bryant And I reached out to her and and she told me the story and it was exactly what I thought it was The guy was from Honduras He had come into the country illegally He was working for a company out of Oklahoma He was hauling out of uh some u mine I don’t know if it’s sand or gravel or something like that up in Lawrence County And he was coming across a he was coming up on a curve It was a it was sharp curve And uh he probably couldn’t read the signs right because we know he didn’t speak English right he misses the curve goes over in the other lane and kills Mark Bryant And and Mark Bryant has you know uh three kids and um was a had worked for the Arkansas State University for a long time And the family was just devastated And when when I met up with Hana she was she was really uh relieved because she’d kind of been they’d all been kind of like saying “How’s this happen how in the world is there an illegal alien driving a commercial truck?” Sure And so they didn’t have a lot of answers and she’s like “I need you to call my attorney you know.” So I called the attorney met with him his name is Brandon Talked to him for a little bit and explained who I was And at the time there was no American Truckers United or stuff And so I just said “Hey I’m an industry expert Um I’ve got a lot of experience in in immigration and trucking and all this stuff.” And and I’ve been quiet for about four years now And uh I feel like I’m supposed to help y’all And so what can I do to help you and so we started exchanging information I went and looked up information for him on the trucking company and all this stuff And and so anyway I called a friend of mine Harvey Beach and I know he’s been on your show Yes Yes He was on he was on one of our podcasts just a few about a month or so ago So yeah and and Harvey had been experiencing uh what I had experienced in my backstory uh which was the economic damage side of this in that his business was struggling uh because our our industry’s been uh been flooded with too much supply of labor We we call it labor dumping now where we’ve got an excess amount of truck drivers that are coming from foreign countries And and he and I had been talking behind the scenes about that issue and I said “Look man I really feel like the Lord’s called me to do this It’s not just the economic damages to me and you now Scott’s killed Mark’s been killed There’s families over here praying and crying out It’s like we can help them Right Right And I think I think we’re supposed to do that And he said “I’ll do it with you.” Yeah Just for our viewers um if you want to go back and listen to that podcast uh the name of that podcast was America Truckers Under Fire: The Fight for Safe Roads and Fair Policies It’s such a great interview with Harvey Beach So I encourage you to go back into our podcast and look for that or you can also find it on um Arkansas first onest.com And so he agrees to do it with me And so it’s like how do we do this we don’t we don’t have a clue you know We set up the we do it all the right way though We contact the attorneys have it all set up and structured and and off we go And and um we didn’t have any intent of filing bills and legislation per se Uh what I wanted what we wanted to do was to make p the public aware right and to uh advocate for drivers and for the crash victims uh with the public but we didn’t know anything about rotten bills and I had seen through the Selen County Republican committee everybody doing this resolution process right of course I wasn’t aware of that and and you know I’ve heard I’ve heard a lot of people say oh those are pointless you know it’s not necess I’m here to tell you today that it was a necessary part of this journey yeah it gets it starts getting people informed because you presented that in the Selen County Republican women and then you went to the Selen County Republican committee and it also passed unanimously there and then you started going to other committees and talking to them and presenting resolutions within their committees And so what it does is it gets people informed And so I I had been told several times like this is a federal thing This is a federal thing You got to go you got to go beg your federal legislators to do something I’ve done that I have sat down with every single one of our federal leg well except WMAC I did not sit down with WAC and I talked to French Hill by phone Uh but I’ve sat down with the other legislators and federal legislators and couldn’t get any help Right Uh they agreed that it was an issue but they all said to me “Hey uh you’re the only one saying something about this and we can’t go up against the Arkansas Trucking Association You’re going to have to get the Arkansas Trucking Association to do something.” And so that goes back to the backstory we might get into later but um I’d already tried to do that And and so um I think this this story is so cool because it shows that the grassroots is really where it’s at That’s right It is And and you don’t have to go beg people right to help you Uh you which is why it’s so important what we talk about all the time with Arkansas First is how important it is to be engaged Yeah And to pay attention to exactly what’s going on because it is our voices that make the difference And this is a this is a great example of that And so and so it’s like okay um we want to get the message out Let’s get up and start speaking at the committee meetings where people are politically engaged and they they seem to care and want to help That’s right Cuz that’s the best place to go Like these people are they want to help And so um I asked to speak uh at the Republican committee meeting and then I asked to speak at the Republican women’s and the women’s come on the schedule first We went to the women’s meeting I introduced the resolution and I think one of the most interesting things is it was exactly what we thought it was I think it’s pretty easy to say there might have been one other person who was in trucking that was aware of the issue right but it was almost unanimous that the room didn’t know that was taking place Oh I was floored at the information that you brought in And that’s having with some little knowledge I I think you and I had a conversation that I have family in trucking I have a cousin who’s owned a trucking uh business and so having little knowledge of the trucking industry I was absolutely floored by the information that you brought And and so in that resolution at the time you know we we were focused on um these guys don’t have US licenses They didn’t have United States commercial driver’s license So it’s how’s how’s that possible right and and so that was because of in my backstory and my experience I was familiar with all these guys coming up from Mexico with all these fraudulent licenses and and our officers just letting them go and and not being properly credentialed not being able to speak English And it’s just like you know so I shared all that with everybody These guys can’t speak English These guys can’t they don’t have a license They don’t have MVRs Nobody knows what their driving history is like Nobody knows their background They could be criminals right most likely are And and so everybody’s just outraged And so it passes unanimously Yes And then we go to the county committee meeting Same thing Everybody’s outraged It passes unanimously And all that’s recorded too We we have all those recordings back from those days And so so then I ask “Okay Palaski County can I come speak?” “Hey Falner County can I come speak?” And of course so I go speak at Plasky Now I go speak at Faulner County And so that is the grassroots right that’s right and um and and so we’re talking about these issues and then and then I get a phone call and it’s from the Arkansas Trucking Association and uh and the phone call was uh hey can you come by and meet with us we want to talk about this soap box you’re on Yes And and so I knew from my backstory that um that this was taking the wrong turn just by the tone of the conversation right and that’s because I’d gone to the trucking association back in 2019 when I’d laid off 450 American truck drivers And it was hard Yeah it was really hard Yeah And and that’s when I went to all those federal legislator I went to all of our congressmen and representatives and and said “Hey you know I need help with this.” And and I was the only one I know I was the only one saying something at the time And um hey you got to get the association on board You get the association on board And and so I went to the association for help They were outraged that I was going around them to the congressman but I’d already mentioned it to them They they didn’t want to help me Had told me they were going to help me And so I had to go around them So then now they’re mad because I’m going around them You know by the way if you’re in trucking you know you’ve got to go through the approved channels Right Right Or or you’re not being a good citizen Right And so um I wasn’t happy with the response I was getting so I went around them and and I get and um they they call So we’re back in 2019 right now They call me into the office I go up to the office and I’ve got this whole presentation of all the material about what’s going on I show it to them and they’re like “I’ve been getting a lot of phone calls about you sharing this information and uh we think you should really put this down This is not something that that we’re willing to discuss.” You’re getting the bad boy talk right and you’re and you’re going to knock down a wasp nest and not have any wasp spray Mhm I was given that message by the president of the Arkansas Trucking Association and I was shocked I was like I don’t I don’t even know how to take this right now Right And um and so I left there convinced that uh you know I’m I’m not going to I’m not going to stop And and look in 2019 I wasn’t in fellowship with the Lord where I was supposed to be Mhm And and so I would I would just say to everybody like I I feel like that wasn’t um it was more that I wasn’t ready and it wasn’t time than it was anything And so all of these things is just the way God kind of orchestrated this story And there is a season for everything There’s a season for everything And sometimes that season’s to wait And so I waited I had to wait from 2019 2020 until 2024 till we started on this Right There was a long that cave time that I’m talking about there was a long waiting period and uh but after after I had that meeting with them and I talked to some people I continued to work on it and I continued to push through and I won’t go all it takes too long to tell all the details of that but you know and uh this is the first time I’m telling on on anything but I received a death threat uh about it and I know you knew that I’d shared that with you before I believe and uh this is not anything I’ve shared with anybody and and up until I didn’t tell anybody about that really until uh 2023 I believe But in that happened in 2020 and that’s what started my cave time because I was like whoa what you know what is this at first I’m warned and then now this and and so uh it it really was a massive issue It was a huge huge issue and and um this is when you know that you’re doing what the Lord is calling you to do You know when the pressure comes on from the world right But he is so much greater than the world And so that’s where we have to draw our strength and our confidence is from the Lord when we when we’re going through these things and fighting these battles that truly do matter Yeah And and so that’s again I wasn’t in fellowship with the Lord at the time and I went into I went into cave time and uh and today I’m very thankful for that Yeah And uh and that’s because um you don’t know what you need until until there’s no one else to call to explain it or to understand it And so I was I was pushed I was pushed to the Lord And uh and I am so grateful because I’m a completely different man today Yeah Because of what I went through and and God used all of that for what he did uh for for Deian Miller and what he’s doing for Leona Bryant right now and what he’s doing for American truck drivers right now uh and and what he’s done for my life and um and and so the the it go so I put it down for all that time and so I’m back and and now now we get to fast forward back to that phone call right so now they’re calling me again right this is so this is five years later right and they’re calling me and they’re saying “Hey um we want to talk to you about this soap box.” And uh and I I said “Well I’m I’m going to pray about uh I’m going to pray about meeting with you because I’ve already given y’all all the information You know I’m giving it to all the citizens now I’m sharing it with all the people Uh but you already have all this information and so I really don’t know what there is and it’s really at their fingertips.” Yeah Yeah It’s like who am I you know y’all are the association Why do you need information from me you should already have this information You should already be advocating for these issues That’s right I don’t need to come educate you You know exactly what’s going on And so anyway so I I share like I’m going to pray about it And I I did sincerely sincerely pray about it And I said um I think that um I think I should be able to present this information to the board Last time 5 years ago I didn’t get to present it to the board I was I was stopped from presenting it to the board And so I was like I will I will come meet but I’d like to present to the board not just one individual right no you can’t do that You know and uh and that’s not how it works I I have to vent everything and then you get to then you get to show it to the board And I said well the only thing that’s changed since the last time I showed you all this information was the number of people that have died and the number of people that have lost their jobs And so tell them that And uh and then I I’ve not talked to him since Yeah That was in that was in uh June June of 2024 And and so I left there and on the phone call they had said that there was a uh that they were working on a bill and the purpose of the meeting was to hear my side of the story but also to show me this bill And so uh so I left there not knowing what the didn’t go didn’t go talk to him didn’t go meet with him not knowing what the bill said and still attending these committee meetings and uh still praying every day and and just like waiting really waiting on the Lord and uh I was attended a Falner County Immigration Committee meeting and I was given a speech on this because I had attended a Conway meeting a regular uh Falner County committee meeting and was invited to this immigration meeting and I presented this immigration meeting and that’s where I meet Representative Wayne Long Yeah And so uh one of the things that God showed me and stopped me through all of this is that uh his plans are greater than our plans And so if we’ll go through the doors that he opens right then you know we’re walking in step with him And and so I’m always looking for looking for what door what door he’s going to open for me That’s right That’s kind of how we and that’s what me and Harvey have kind of agreed to do through all this is hey let’s look for the open doors and let’s walk through those and let God open them for us and let’s not let’s not beat on anybody’s door and ask them to help us That’s right You know let’s just speak about it talk about it get the message out and then and then go through the doors that he opens and and we’ve been doing that and um so Fner County everybody ooze and a gasp in the crowd like they like they’ve been doing There’s probably 100 200 people there that night and uh and the representatives come up to me uh and said “Hey I want to help you.” I just I I love Mary Bentley She’s she’s one of our great representative She comes up and and says hello and says she wants to help me on the issue Uh Representative Long comes up and says he wants to help on the issue And then um about two weeks later I think it was um well I’m I’m I’m passing a step here So So we I had that meeting and then I don’t I don’t know if the the uh Selen meeting come before that meeting or after but there’s another meeting in here before I get the phone call but I’m at a Selen County Republican meeting after that or before that and R.J Hawk approaches me Mhm And he says “Hey I heard you’re working on some trucking stuff I’ve got this bill.” Well as soon as he said that to me I knew R.J Hawk didn’t write no bill right you know what does he know about trucking and and so it’s like okay uh I know where this bill’s coming from I didn’t tell him that but I knew where the bill’s coming from And I said “Okay send it to me I’ll take a look at it.” And um a week goes by or whatever I didn’t get it And then I finally get it And so I received the bill and I open it up and my goodness it’s exactly the opposite of what I’d been getting up and talking about And so the bill was written on its face They say that they’re dealing with um fake fraudulent uh CDLs Mhm Which I’m absolutely against fake fraudulent CDLs Right Right But is it but do we need to be trying to uh to band-aid the fake fraudulent CDLs or do we just need to push back the system that’s allowing a group of people to use a bunch of fake and fraudulent CDLs right like why don’t we have a why don’t we have a bunch of fake and fraudulent US CDOS right no they were talking about fake and fraudulent Mexican CDLs and and so but if when you went down so they they did a little language about that and then about um um some kind of vote some silly uh registration uh to vote stuff or something I I’m not really understanding what the language was about the documents and fake documents and all this other but uh what really got my attention was when you went down to reciprocity Yeah In the reciprocity section Arkansas state law has always said or for the longest time has said that to drive a commercial motor vehicle you have to have a United States commercial driver’s license or a Canadian driver’s license and they wanted to strike that language regardless of why they wanted to do it They’re going to they’re going to tell you 10 different reasons of why they wanted to do it Right You’re still changing state law You’re still changing a code of state law and reciprocity Yes And and in that code you’re taking it from US and Canada to something completely different Here’s what they wanted to do They wanted to strike the words United States and Canada and they wanted to add the words non-domicile learners permit and non-domiciled CDL from any foreign jurisdiction And so the the new and I’m paraphrasing here because I don’t have the bill in front of me but the new but the new uh wording would say that to operate a commercial motor vehicle in the state of Arkansas you can have a non-domicile commercial learner’s permit right learner’s permit Learner’s permit Yes or driver’s law or commercial driver’s license from any foreign jurisdiction I was outraged Yeah It’s like have you and and he had never heard I don’t I don’t know that he had ever heard me speak about the issue Uh but I’m sure he had to have known that I was speaking about the issue Of course he did Yeah And and so when I saw that I was like did he even read this mhm Mh Like how in the world would anybody read that and send it to a guy who’s getting up and talking about how unsafe our roads are because we’ve allowed all these untrained unqualified unvetted people on our highways that can’t even read or speak English and and say “Hey would you you know do you support this?” It’s like it’s going the other way Right Right And I don’t know you know I was just like “What?” And so I sent it to him and then we we have this back and forth and it just like spirals out of control And so uh I could tell that wasn’t getting anywhere So I I just you know I just said “Look you know I’m not in support I’ll I’ll be in opposition to this.” And so you know we we haven’t really talked since that And you know he and I directly met one time at a restaurant and exchanged pleasantries But uh I can just again the door was shut The door was slam That’s not an open door No No it’s not That’s not an open door And so uh I could tell where that was coming from So I was just like “Okay shut that door Move on.” And uh and then one night I get a phone call They wanted you to be they wanted you to be okay with it to shut you up Yeah That’s what it was And so I get a phone call from um Representative Long then Yes And it was probably you know a couple weeks after that I’m not real sure the timing but he’s like “Hey you know I’m working on all this immigration stuff and um I really liked what you said in Faulter County and I want to help you.” and uh he said “I’ll I’ll write a bill for you.” And I was like “Man that I was just so pumped That’s like one of those that’s an open door right that’s an open door you know.” So I was just so pumped And and uh I said “Man that that would be great.” And and so um you know he he wrote uh House Bill 1569 which is the Secure and Safe Roads Act which addressed u English proficiency It was one of the very first things Hey a guy must be able to read or speak English If he can’t read or speak English uh we’re gonna not only find him we’re gonna impound his truck Yes And and so we’re gonna make the road safer by taking the driver that can’t read our signs off of the highway And then it addressed um the uh foreign driver’s licenses which it specifically went on to say our first our first draft was like hey we don’t believe we should be accepting any drivers from Mexico and Canada and we received push back on that because there’s a trade agreement the USMCA uh that allows drivers from Mexico and Canada Um and so we we amended that after to say you know with the proper documentation really and and really more to push back on the B1 visas Really how these illegal drivers are getting in here is an abuse of a visitor visa They’re in here working and they’re all here on visitor visas They’re not on work visas right they’re not supposed to be working right so the bill address that And then the bill address I mean when you really dig into this it just makes you mad Yeah As as a citizen as a mom on the roadway with your kids in the car with you to understand that these truckers that are are here that they can’t read the road signs they can’t speak English And and our government is going “That’s okay.” Yeah that’s okay And you look you know one of the things I kept telling people I don’t really believe our government’s been doing that though I really believe there’s been a group of people that have been kind of exploiting loopholes and letting this go on for profit right and what I found is that most of the most of the government didn’t know right and are still being misled And we’ll get into that here in a minute You just look out here I I would tell people just out here on the 30 right here coming through Selen County with the construction and how narrow and it you know it goes from wide lane to narrow like really quick and these truckers if they can’t read our signs we we were having accidents all the time out here involving trucks Yeah And and so the third thing that addressed was uh the uh non-domicile CDL So look I’ve been doing this for 25 years I didn’t know what a non-domicile CDL’s It wasn’t until Congress or Representative R.J Hawk handed me that bill 1745 right that had the language non-domicile CDL in it right that I learned what a non-domicile learners permit a non-dom So I’ve employed thousands of truck drivers Thousands I’ve looked at I mean I’ve got people that do the recruiting stuff but I’ve I’ve seen several applications I’ve seen several licenses My recruiters and stuff say that they’ve never seen a non-dominile learners permit or non-dicile co And so when we me and Harvey started looking into this what in the world is it what what is a what are they what are they trying to do here you know right and so we find out we find out and uh that that is a license for a non-citizen Yes That all that several states uh you know we didn’t know it at the time We know it now at 20 at least have passed state law uh which what is what Arkansas is trying to do allowing for states to issue what is a non-domicide CDL which is hey you can issue now issue a CDL driver’s license to a non-citizen Mhm And so that has never been the case In fact you know none of these states were doing it up until like 2021 is when we really found that it took off Right And so so what started out as foreign driver’s licenses and English proficiency has now dwarfed into oh my goodness they’re giving them US CDLs Mhm And they’re calling them these non-domiciles And so it then it takes this whole other level And so um so we get all that in our bill and and um and we get our we get our bill you know that that’s like you know December or so when we’re kind of working on all that stuff And then uh and then we get it filed you know and uh and so HP569 files and we’re like man this is going to be good And uh you know we have a we have a meeting with the chair of transportation committee and uh we have a meeting with state police Uh we have a meeting with the chief of the highway police Uh we have a meeting with some lobbyists We call them all in a room and and uh we show them hey this is uh we want to educate y’all and show you what we’re talking about what’s going on here and we give them this whole rundown You can tell again it’s it’s more shock right it’s like what you know and and so you know there’s a comment in the room that’s we we got to get this addressed boys You know we need to we need to work this out And so we’re all I mean that was a great day It’s a great meeting It’s like man this is all headed in the right direction Yeah And then here comes the Arkansas Trucking Association Yes And and look you won’t see them publicly speaking about any of this It’s all behind closed doors Yeah And on phone calls And so um we leave that meeting and and then like the the next day it’s like well you know our representative you know you know this is a federal thing You know the the word starts going around federal federal federal federal federal And what I what I’ve learned is that um through states rides and because of federal code there’s there’s a federal code that allows the state to enact more stringent regulations on commercial motor vehicles right than the federal statute We can’t go less than right okay Well making our roads more safe is is a is a higher standard not a lesser standard right you know I I would say the the lesser standard is allowing in a bunch of fake CDLs and a bunch of unvetted non-domicile CDLs And so uh so here we are 1569’s filed We’ve talked about all these English proficiencies already filed right in the state And oh no we can’t do that We can’t do English proficiency We can’t do uh non-domicile CDLs We can’t touch B1’s None of that No we can’t do any of that It’s a federal issue You can’t do it at state level Okay It’s like what mhm Why don’t we take this to the committee and let our representatives decide what we can do right and let our senators decide what we can do not these state agencies and the trucking association right and so you know we’re we’re trying to uh get our bill heard by committee and uh we’re not getting anywhere and uh it’s never getting on the agenda And then that that bill that uh R.J had presented back the year before Mhm Uh I I left out an important detail on that It was it had on it um that it was it was to be filed in special session So they were preparing that bill in 2024 to run it in the special session that never run I believe there was a special session that was going to run in Q3 or Q4 that never ended up getting called and so that bill had been idled because of that Right And so here it comes Yeah They file HP 1745 Uh and when they file it I’m like I honestly thought we were making enough noise And at the time we really didn’t have a lot of media coverage uh yet Uh we when we filed 1569 that’s when the media coverage started right uh prior to that there wasn’t hardly any media talking about the issue and uh the first uh news organizations to pick it up were all industry news right it really started getting really popular with industry news and and so Arkansas still wasn’t seeing that But if you’re in the industry word was all over the country Hey there’s a bill in Arkansas about English proficiency Well that was 1569 right and I I even uh text you because I was on Tik Tok and trackers all over because you know the you know the algorithm on Tik Tok if you watch something through you see it you know you constantly get that in front of you And I text I’m like this is all over Tik Tok Your bill is all over Tik Tok And the American drivers uh the American truckers Yeah were in huge support Oh it was unanimous Yes By far Yes I mean if you can you can count on one hand the the you know the the guys who were against it at that time you know and uh and so yeah so it was it was really very popular at a national level on social media like “Wow look at what Arkansas’s doing.” Are all pumped and even our social media I told you earlier like I didn’t do social media but we had to create social media for this association And uh and so we did and that’s when our social media really started blowing up and uh and so that was that was neat to experience and uh it has re it’s like really gone crazy since then But um but so we’re the social media is starting to buzz now and and we’ve got this bill file and everybody’s getting excited I mean there was there’s drivers just putting out random Tik Toks that drivers already being arrested and and that was all just rumor and buzz and and but it was out of it was way out it was way beyond us Yeah Anything that we could control and and so uh we we felt really good about the momentum was like “Wow this momentum is really going to carry this thing through.” And um and so then 1745 comes in and it no more than gets filed It immediately gets to committee And so before we can have a committee hearing 1745 gets filed and they get their committee hearing And so I have to call in all of our families that have been impacted in the crashes I have to call in these other trucking companies and also called in some towing companies Hey we all come testify about the crashes that y’all are cleaning up And so we all testify not for our bill We’re just trying to defend the fact that they’re trying to stop our b our bill right by by uh producing this kind of a ghost bill that acts like it’s doing something but it doesn’t And so we go in and we testify against it and because and here’s here’s the main thing here Here’s the reason we’re getting 1745 We weren’t against 1745 because we want people to use fraudulent CDLs right we were getting 1745 because there’s nothing you can do to prevent a a country that has a culture of of crime and abusing uh their licensing issuing system and all that stuff There’s there’s no amount of regulation and and things that we can do to fix Mexico right or or to fix the problems they had in Canada Exactly And so the so the real solution was the solutions that we offered If they’re violating the law get them off the road Exactly Impound their trucks and pull them off the highways It’s It’s not oh slap them on the hand and let them keep operating Right And so uh I mean because I I spoke to a couple um state troopers that told me that when they you know have these drivers that can’t read or speak English that the process of trying to get anywhere with them takes hours and then they end up just letting them go So you know what they do instead so then they start discriminately not enforcing the law on them Exactly And enforcing the law more on the American truck drivers right and that’s what we’re experiencing Yeah There would be a lot more uh incidents if the officers weren’t regretting having to engage with a bunch of people they can’t even talk to Right And and so who are you going to pull over right Like nobody knows You’re an officer out here on the highway Nobody nobody’s telling you which truck you have to stop Right Right so you’re making these engagements and you’re pulling them over and are you going to pull over this guy or you going to pull over that guy this guy’s going to take you two hours You’re going to get frustrated and maybe it’s the end of your shift and you won’t deal with that or you can go get this guy that might just have a tail light out and you can hit him and you you know and right everything just be fine And so we believe there’s a lot of that going on Of course you can’t prove that out but u I I know that we have got to we have met with tons of law enforcement officers The officers right not the politically engaged leadership Exactly But the officers are outraged and frustrated that our highways have been turned into this as well Yes And so we support our highway officers and and we’re happy that you guys are out there now uh hopefully going to be allowed to enforce the laws are tied That’s exactly right And they and the minute that they would if they were to come out in support of what we were doing 1569 or speak out do you think that would have been accepted by their leadership no Absolutely not No I’ve actually run into these highway officers in restaurants and everything else like that and and they’re they’re very supportive of what we’re doing They just can’t publicly say that Right And so uh it’s always it’s always a good feeling for me when I get to run into one of them just out in and I get to talk to them on the side and their bosses don’t know Right Exactly And uh and so um your your officers support us by the way That’s right And so um you know so their bill gets filed We get everybody rallied up We get to committee and uh we’re in committee and we testify And so these these ladies are testifying about losing a husband losing their dads Yep Uh they’re uh we had a tow company testify about 80% of his wrecks being impacted by this stuff And uh we had business owners testifying about how the it’s they’re being economically damaged But this is what I’ve learned about about our system that really needs a rapid It’s very important that we get to it quickly that our representatives and our senators learn that they need to listen to the constituents and not the special interest groups Yes And the problem is like this situation is so complicated and so complex and I understand that representatives and and and so they have to trust someone Mhm And the Arkansas Trucking Association has been up there for so long U they were able to mislead our representatives and senators on this issue this time and make it like oh this is just about fraudulent CDLs Oh this is all we can do We’re doing everything we can do And what they weren’t telling them is we have members there’s members in the Arkansas Trucking Association who are economically benefiting from the use of these drivers And so that’s the real story Exactly Is who’s making the money off of it And so who’s who’s who’s lobbying the Arkansas Trucking Association and that’s what you all should be asking Yes Who who who in the Arkansas Trucking Association is using these drivers and why was it important for the Arkansas Trucking Association to shut down the conversation on B1 truck drivers why was it important for the Arkansas Trucking Association to shut down the conversation on non-domicile drivers right and why was it important uh for them to shut down uh 1569 right and so um they unanimously passed out of committee that day after all that you So the only person that spoke for the bill was from the Arkansas Trucking Association Yes You had all these people that spoke against it Yeah And then you had someone from the trucking association that spoke for it and it unanimously passes and and your bill gets still never gets heard Yeah Still never gets heard and and and so it so the congressman that obviously that presented the bill spoke and then this representative from the trucking association spoke and so it unanimously passes and it’s just like oh my goodness like what is that you know that’s just more God because he has a better plan that’s right that’s right you know and so we all celebrated uh afterwards I I would say too like that committee hearing um another example of the games and the shenanigans uh was uh they quickly uh limited us to 3 minutes per speaker and uh was quick to shut us off uh as we were trying to talk So you could see you would see these ladies talking about their husbands and the widows you know we’re done We’re done You know you hear these guys talking about talking about losing your dad losing your husband and the emotion that comes from that It’s really hard to get to the meat Yeah in three minutes And then the same thing you know you got these business leaders they’re being economic they’re bleeding out You’re done right you’re done And so at the end of the day they really didn’t want this message getting out Yes They really were trying to silence the message and and and and uh you failed right and so uh so failed greatly because it really has opened up It’s amplifying Yeah it is It’s opened up the door It’s called the Barbara Stryand effect The more you try to silence like she was trying to hide I don’t know if are you familiar with that uhhuh She was trying to hide the location of her house or whatever and everybody found out she was trying to do that So they all found they all found her So it’s like okay and so I believe that’s what’s hap going to happen in this situation and uh and so anyway so you know 15 1745 gets out and uh again 1569 is not getting scheduled Like what is that i I don’t know cuz I’m not very involved with We’re trying to investigate now Like how does that even happen right that we never even get a committee hearing Yes Uh but 1745 goes straight to the House floor We we take it’s last everything’s moving so fast for them Yes Like we we don’t even have time to like organize a bunch of truckers and it’s like two days later we’re on the floor right and so we grab who we can and we go up to the C We kind of protest We had signs you know standing on the steps like “Please here’s We had this big sign that showed the differences between 1569 1569 requires English proficiency 1569 bans B1 visitor visas for work 1569 gets these non-domicile non-citizen truck drivers off our road.” I got all these issues 1745 does it do English proficiency no Does it do uh uh visitor visa abuse no Does it do non-domicile CDL no I had this long list You probably saw it Yeah Yeah You’ve got a video of that on the social media page Yeah And it’s like I I was trying to make it as simple as possible So like even if they’re lying to you kindergarten could understand Even even if they’re lying to you you can see very clearly here that these are two very different issues right two two different bills uh 1569 has criminal statutes that would have held the the uh the guy who killed Mark Bryant accountable Yes Instead of getting uh neg negligent homicide or whatever misdemeanor charge whatever it was and and only being in jail for days uh we wanted manslaughter I believe is the it was felony you know 10 years time right so it had all that in there And then 1745 literally had uh three things and that was uh the fraudulent CDL a felony for that and then um um a felony if you didn’t have this EAD card representatives the EAD card the the guys coming from Mexico that are operating on visitor visas which is the majority of the traffic coming from Mexico which is supposed to be the issue that they’re addressing that they were even addressing was 1745 They don’t have EAD cards right they have this B1 visa And so what’s going to be interesting is how these officers apply this law And we’re Hey we’re going and we’re going to show you everybody Yeah Because uh it’s not going to do anything And so um the majority of the population aren’t even impacted by what they’re trying to do It’s a very small percentage of the population And I think I’m getting a better understanding of where their head was the more I research this non-domicile and the more that comes to uh to light on this non-domicile issue It’s really revealing what they were up to And um and so um so anyway um I forget where I was at on the on the 1745 but we’re up there protesting and we got it all clearly laid out on the chart and then the vote again It’s just that we had one vote for us and everything else was just like for them and the one vote was our representative right right he was presenting who was trying to present your bill Yeah Yeah And it’s just like wow man This is this is amazing And and so um so we we leave there and it’s just like you know it’s it’s at the time uh it’s I mean we’re we’re all still um we’re defeated in the moment We’re like man this is rough You know really thought we could stop this Uh but God had a better plan and I’m thankful for that because it’s so much better than what we were trying to really made uh national news and um you’ve been on several national platforms uh talking about it and so even that defeat that day on the house floor uh just fed up more social media Yeah you know so we were doing that in March I think was that House floor vote probably somewhere around there And like our our views on social media at the time in February I think we were probably getting 2 million views a month And then by March we were at 4 million views for that month And now for the month of April we were over six million views Yeah On social media content And so it’s just like every time you know they try to knock us down or whatever it just kind of gets amplified Amplified Amplified Amplified Mhm And so we’re grateful for that because you know the message is a much bigger message and uh and and so then we had the judiciary committee uh hearing because it went to the Senate side and got moved to judiciary and that’s where that’s where okay now all of a sudden they care about English proficiency Yeah They filed an amendment and added English proficiency to 1745 And what’s interesting about that is if you read the news like here lately it’s like “Oh we did English proficiency.” That’s not what 1745 was right they brought that in at the 11th hour And I I really believe that was because of of the message uh that was getting out uh about um you know the uh the English proficiency message was just really starting to get was getting loud right and they were probably getting a lot of pressure from the representatives and senators Hey you know exactly Yeah we we need to that Yeah we should require English you know So they added that to their bill and they took out the non-domicile CDL Mhm They took out the non-domicile learners permit So there was there was three great victories right through all of that And that was the fact that we stopped them from getting their non-domicile CDL in the state of Arkansas Yes We stopped them from getting their non-domicile learners permit in the state of Arkansas And then we got on to Adling English proficiency On the English proficiency you know we were disappointed not disappointed now uh but we were disappointed at the time uh because they still refused to put the truck out of service Yeah You know they set a $500 fine if you can’t speak English So their plan 1745 in the 11th hour okay we’re going to add in English proficiency but we’re not really serious about it We’re just trying to uh you know probably pacify some representatives here Here We’re trying to quiet the quiet Yeah we’re trying to cry So we’re going to we’re going to put some language in there so we can tout that we did English proficiency but it’s not going to do anything Yeah Where’s the teeth yeah We’re going to let So we’re going to pull a a guy over The officer is going to know that the guy can’t speak or read highway signs and he’s going to let him go and proceed on his way What What is that that’s not doing anything Right And so uh and so they they did that We continue to speak against hey this isn’t the And so we really start you know highlighting you got to take them out of service And so we continue to speak against them And we’re speaking against them from the perspective hey we need 1569 I I don’t I representatives and senator I don’t want y’all thinking that this fixes it We need 1569 And uh in that Well here’s what’s very interesting in that testimony Mhm Now everybody go back You can go back and look at this Yes The president of the Arkansas Arkansas Trucking Association says it’s my understanding their bill has been withdrawn this morning Okay And me and Harvey are like what mhm We nobody’s withdrawn anything Right And so uh no there had been nothing withdrawn at that time uh the bill then disappeared uh from the agenda and uh and so you know I I I would let um I don’t want to step on any toes with my representative so you know he can tell his story about all that but everybody should just pay attention what was that right that was news to Shannon and Harvey and uh and so how is that possible exactly and so um because you had not withdrawn Right Yeah It’s not my position to Right I’m not the representative And Wayne Long had not withdrawn right And so and you had not asked Wayne Long to Absolutely not I I’d actually he he’d been pressured to and and and I’d said we you know let’s let’s have our committee hearing Let’s have our testimony and let’s let them vote it down Yeah Okay Make them vote it down Yeah Make them speak I want them I want them to go on recording it down Exactly And we didn’t get to have that So what is that mhm And and so um so anyway um they that passes out of committee it goes to the Senate and uh and again it just you know they I would say that um I don’t know what the final vote was over they had to go to the House again and and all the votes and stuff but it just you know they got 1745 through and uh at the time you know it yeah it was it was a little discouraging but again you don’t know what God’s doing Right And so and so that’s why the word’s so important um in in what he teaches us and that’s you know in Matthew 6:33 when he talks about seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness and all things will be added unto you It’s okay You know in that passage in Matthew 6 he’s talking about do the birds worry you know the before that it’s proceeding they don’t worry about So why worry don’t worry when you get defeated Don’t worry when you get up and you speak about a resolution and you know your legislators aren’t wanting to back you Uh don’t get up don’t worry when you when you go into a committee and everybody votes against you Don’t worry when you go into committee and you talk to your own personal representative who knows your issues and he still votes against you That was upsetting Yeah And uh don’t worry when uh your own senator is a co-sponsor on the bill Yeah Against you you know So all all this stuff was just really lined up against us and and I’m thankful for that I’m thankful for that and uh because it well sometimes that it it it opens up more doors because it even sparks more of a passion and God you know opens uh other doors and gives us more things to work on And so you take that and I know that you know recently President Trump signed an executive order So do you want to talk about that yeah Yeah So uh you know we and as all of this is going on in the state of Arkansas the social media is going wild and um have really taken off and and also uh we’re being asked to appear on a lot of different shows radio shows talk shows um uh you know these uh the Steve Bannon show or the war game Uh we’re also having talks with uh there’s also talks going on in the background some very high level people one of them being from the administration and and so uh we’re having talks uh there was some conver conversation with some people in in um some federal agencies all the stuff’s going on behind the scenes and and so we we knew uh that the White House knew uh and that they were we had been told that they’re working on it weeks prior to that at least probably a month prior to that I know I got specific word when we were at the Mid-American Truck Show in Kentucky Hey this is being worked on from the White House down And I was like wow that that’s pretty cool Yeah You know and so so we we were confident that uh that it had landed in the right places and it was being worked on We just didn’t know how on April 11th uh we sent a letter to the Secretary of Transportation uh Trump’s new cabinet member Sean Duffy Yes And uh we outlined specific things um and we said “Hey you uh you know welcome but we’ve got a crisis right now in the trucking industry and it’s really related to immigration and could you please focus on these five things?” And and those five things were pretty much exactly what 1569 had in it Yeah and it was English proficiency Um it was the non-domicile CDLs It’s addressing the foreign CDLs and it’s addressing uh criminal statutes And then it’s calling for a task force to go evaluate the economic damage And if you read the executive order it says English proficiency It doesn’t say English proficiency and a fine right it says take them off the road Yes Yes Out of service violation which is which was 1569 Yes And then it uh And then it says uh that they’re going to investigate the issuance of these non-domicile CDLs by all the DMVs Mhm And then it says they’re going to uh investigate and validate all these foreign CDLs And then it says they’re going to go review the economic conditions of American truck driver And so uh it’s all been really really exciting And and uh and we’re just so thankful But I I think the most important thing here is that along that way along this whole path uh we were praying in committee Mhm There was there was a group of men praying in Bible study Randy Sams being one of them Y who got me to come to committee So we were praying in committee Um you know uh there were the families of the uh the accidents They were praying for for God to move in this The business leaders have been praying that have been economically damaged have all been praying We’ve now got a group of uh over uh 3,000 truck drivers Uh we’ve got a group of over uh 3,000 trucks now that are this is separate We’ve got carriers and we’ve got drivers Our carrier membership now makes up over 3,000 trucks all those business leaders are praying and uh and and just so many people that are uh watching and involved through social media you know have been praying and and so we really got to see a mighty move of God We got to see a miracle right as as just faithful people were in prayer asking for the Lord to move and just trusting that even though you know uh the odds were against us and people were saying that it couldn’t be done and were voting against us uh that God gets the final say That’s right That’s right And it you know when you’re looking at where you feel defeated or you think that there’s a defeat God’s promises of hearing our cry and hearing our prayer and has brought all these people together to pray for this Yeah One of the things Harvey likes to talk about all the time is he was so moved uh that first time that we testified in committee uh because he hadn’t got yet to meet all these people and and we called them in and everybody just kind of swarmed in to to testify and he was like look how God has brought all these strangers together Yeah And now we all have this relationship and we’re all friends Yeah And he’s using that to love on every for each one to love on one another And it just and same’s going on with the with the business owners right like we’re lifelong friends now you know and it’s it’s more than just a trucking association And that isn’t that the core of putting America first Yeah Yeah And putting and putting Christ first Yeah You put Christ first You know I think that’s the message too Uh America first uh can only come after Christ is first That’s right Amen Amen to that Wow What an eyeopening conversation today with Shannon Everett of American Truckers United As we’ve heard our nation’s truckers are at the backbone of the America’s economy And yet they’re being undermined by government overreach open border policies and unsafe practices that put every driver on the road at risk The fight to protect American jobs enforce safety standards and restore dignity to this critical industry is far from over But voices like Shannons are leading the charge If you care about safety sovereignty and supporting the hardworking men and women who keep this country moving now is the time to stand up Let your voices be heard Sign up at americaners.com You do not have to be a trucker to sign up on american truckers.com to be engaged Right Shannon that’s right Registration’s free Demand accountability and keep pushing for policies that put America first on the roads in our workforce and in every corner of this nation Thanks for tuning in to Arkansas First Reports Be sure to subscribe share this episode and stay connected with us If you enjoy this content consider supporting us at arkansasfirst.com And that’s arkansas.com We’ll be back soon with more truth more action and more ways for you to make a difference Until next time I’m Candy CS Keep fighting keep praying and keep putting Arkansas first
Kandi Cox advocates for life, faith, and family. Her podcast and articles tackle pro-life issues, and politics affecting families, offering hope and truth from a biblical perspective.
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