CHEYENNE — The Laramie County Sheriff’s Office’s three-day “Truck Around and Find Out” sweep of commercial trucks last week has support from truck drivers and industry groups flooding in from across the U.S.
The operation, which was a joint effort with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), saw deputies make 177 stops, write 51 tickets, and nab 32 drivers who were in the country illegally, said Sheriff Brian Kozak.
In the days since Cowboy State Daily wrote about the crackdown Friday, a flood of online reaction has been mostly positive, including shout-outs from politically conservative groups with huge audiences.
Libs of TikTok shared the story with its 4.6 million followers with the message, “Great job Sheriff!”
So did the Donald Trump For President Facebook page, which isn’t affiliated with the president but with Restate Watcher, and has 7.5 million followers.
But it’s been actual truckers and people in that industry who Kozak said have reached out to him the most, with none so far criticizing the crackdown.
“I think that’s because even if you’re not supportive of everything ICE is doing now, you can still appreciate that these unsafe truck drivers are dangerous,” Kozak told Cowboy State Daily on Wednesday.
He’s also not surprised at how far news of one roundup in Wyoming can get such widespread attention, because it’s happened before.
“The last time we did a video on this topic was ‘Operation Safe Haul,’ and that went viral, too,” he said, referring to a November commercial truck roundup his office conducted.
Perhaps fueling the response to Truck Around and Find Out is the video Kozak put out on the LCSO’s Facebook page recapping the results.
In the video, he’s wearing a baseball cap that he’s pasted a picture of a truck over the F-word to say, “Truck Around and Find Out.”
Now everyone wants to know where they can get that hat, he said.
“Most of the emails are people who want a hat,” Kozak said. “We’ve talked about making the hat and having the proceeds go to the benevolent fund for deputies who are injured.”
‘It’s Already Dangerous Out Here As It Is’
Jared Fortner is a long-haul trucker from Iowa who regularly makes runs through Wyoming.
He said more efforts like Truck Around and Find Out are needed, but not for immigration enforcement.
For truckers, the issue is getting unsafe drivers off the highways, said Fortner, adding that the most pressing issue is drivers who aren’t proficient in English.
“Anyone who can’t speak, read and write English shouldn’t be on the road,” he said. “It’s already dangerous out here as it is.”
Fortner was one of the dozens of commercial trucks and passenger vehicles stopped for about 16 hours on Feb. 17-18 after multiple crashes closed both sides of Interstate 80 east of Evanston.
I-80 is dangerous enough, “especially in winter,” without more factors that put unsafe drivers on the road, he said.
The American Trucking Associations also supports more crackdowns on unsafe commercial truck driving, said President and CEO Chris Spear.
“Safety is the foundation of the trucking industry,” he told Cowboy State Daily in a statement. “Professional drivers must meet rigorous training and licensing standards, and we have no room for those who cut corners.
“In recent years, a surge of new entrants driven by loose border policies and a pandemic-era freight boom outpaced enforcement, allowing too many unqualified operators onto our roads. That put public safety at risk.”
Spear said Truck Around and Find Out, along with other operations by law enforcement across the U.S., is bringing more accountability to his industry.
“That is good for safety and for the professional drivers and carriers who play by the rules,” he said.
It’s Also Expensive
One critical voice of the LCSO operation has been the ACLU of Wyoming.
In a statement responding to Truck Around and Find Out, Executive Director Libby Skarin called out Kozak, saying he has a history of politically motivated actions.
“Using Laramie County officers to carry out ‘show-me-your-papers’ immigration enforcement erodes constitutional protections, undermines public safety and diverts limited local resources away from core law enforcement responsibilities,” Skarin said last week.
Someone needs to say, “show me your papers,” countered Wyoming Republican U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, who has been a vocal supporter of stiffer rules for truckers, including mandatory English proficiency.
“Sheriff Kozak’s operation demonstrates the deadly reality facing Wyoming families, and we should thank the many sheriffs throughout the state working every day to remove criminal illegal aliens,” she told Cowboy State Daily.
“Thousands of illegals are barreling down our highways every day in 40-ton trucks,” she added. “These drivers cannot read our road signs, fail to adapt to changing road conditions, and do not respect the lives of our citizens on the road.”
At Bar S Trucking in Cheyenne, which has been in business for 36 years and employs 65-70 drivers, the impact of illegal commercial drivers makes the roads less safe — and more expensive.
“One of the things that’s a large deal is how much we pay in insurance,” said owner Jordan Smith. “There are people who submit certificates of insurance, then cancel them immediately, then they run down the road with your family and mine uninsured.
“We definitely support the sheriff.”
Speaking and reading English is important, Smith said.
“We had a collision just down the road in Laramie County, and the gentleman did not speak English,” Smith said. “Then his company tried to get him out of there immediately because they didn’t have adequate insurance coverage.
“Our driver was injured, and the other driver could speak zero English.”
Smith said that the bottom line for her is doing the job, not making political statements.
“It’s not about them being here legally, it’s about being a fit person to do the job,” she said. “How are they getting a CDL, how are they getting the permitting if they can’t read English? That’s not fair.”
Kozak said there will definitely be more concentrated crackdowns like the one last week, and after the popularity of its name, they’ll all be called Truck Around and Find Out.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
