By admin 
YUMA, AZ (AZFamily) — Federal border agents arrested dozens of commercially licensed truck drivers who were unauthorized to be in the country during a weeklong enforcement operation in the Yuma area.
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U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials announced the results of the multi-agency operation, which targeted drug and human smuggling but led to the detention of 95 truck drivers. According to authorities, all of the arrested drivers held valid state-issued commercial driver’s licenses, with 76 issued in California, six in New York, and the remainder from other states.
The enforcement surge follows increased federal efforts to regulate non-citizen commercial drivers. The Department of Transportation recently finalized a rule designed to prevent unqualified foreign drivers from obtaining U.S. commercial licenses.
“We are committed to protecting our citizens from all international threats, whether that is from unlicensed or untrained drivers, or transnational criminal organizations engaged in human or drug trafficking,” Dustin Caudle, Acting Chief Patrol Agent of the CBP Yuma Sector, said in a statement.
The initiative, which took place during the week of Aug. 10-14, was conducted alongside local Stonegarden law enforcement partners. In total, the operation resulted in 183 arrests of individuals from 18 different countries.
During the sweep, agents also stopped two human-smuggling attempts, detaining 21 individuals, and seized a firearm alongside quantities of methamphetamine and marijuana.
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This marks the second major enforcement operation targeting commercial drivers in the Yuma Sector this year. In June, a similar initiative called “Operation Checkmate” resulted in the arrest of 52 individuals, including 36 semi-truck drivers.
The Yuma Sector Border Patrol and the Arizona Trucking Association did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
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