Across America, truck drivers show up every day to keep our economy moving. They deliver the food we eat, the medicine we rely on, and the goods that stock our shelves. But today, an epidemic threatens their safety, our supply chains, and the livelihoods of small businesses and consumers alike.
That crisis is cargo theft.
This isn’t always a smash-and-grab crime. Sometimes it takes nothing more than a phone call and a stolen digital identity. In one recent case, criminals rerouted two truckloads carrying nearly $1 million worth of Guy Fieri and Sammy Hagar’s branded tequila to a fake warehouse, spoofing GPS systems and duping legitimate drivers without ever brandishing a weapon. If they’re brazen enough to target two household names, they’ll target anyone.
The data speaks for itself. According to the American Transportation Research Institute, cargo theft costs the trucking industry up to $6.6 billion each year, or more than $18 million every single day. Across the broader supply chain, losses may reach as high as $35 billion annually. That’s money that should be in consumers’ wallets. Not criminals’ pockets.
And these criminals are increasingly turning to cyber tactics, impersonating legitimate carriers, hijacking load boards, and diverting freight. This high-tech crime has surged more than 1,500% since 2021, while small trucking fleets—more than 90% of the industry—are forced into a technological arms race against sophisticated, global criminal networks. Often operating overseas, these thieves use illicit profits from cargo theft to finance drug trafficking, organized crime, and even terrorism.
Thankfully, Washington is starting to wake up. Sen. Dick Durbin’s (D) — the Senate Judiciary Committee’s Ranking Member — decision to co-sponsor the Combating Organized Retail Crime Act (CORCA) alongside Judiciary Committee Chairman Chuck Grassley (R) is a meaningful step forward. CORCA would give law enforcement the tools they need to confront organized theft rings, including centralized data, better coordination across jurisdictions, and tougher penalties for criminals who prey on our supply chain.
In a town where lawmakers can’t agree on the day of the week, seeing nearly 230 Republicans and Democrats lock arms and sponsor CORCA to take on organized crime is essential. Cargo theft doesn’t check party affiliation before it strikes, and the solutions shouldn’t either.
Today, in testimony before Congress, I’ll tell lawmakers that CORCA is the lifeline we need to fight back against these criminals who have run rampant. I plan to make clear that when organized criminals can steal trailers full of food, electronics, and medicine with little risk and few consequences, it’s not just trucking companies that suffer.
Stolen freight drives up insurance costs, forces costly security investments, and squeezes small businesses. Those costs are passed along to consumers, showing up as higher prices at the grocery store. There is a direct link between rampant cargo theft and what Americans pay at checkout.
Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy and the Trump Administration deserve credit for treating cargo theft like the serious economic and security threat it is. Because these crimes cross state and national borders, this is a federal responsibility, one state and local law enforcement cannot shoulder alone. CORCA would enable federal authorities to fight back against these transnational criminal enterprises.
Our drivers deserve to work without being hunted by organized criminals. Our businesses deserve to operate without being looted. And the American people deserve a secure, resilient supply chain.
We know what needs to be done. Let’s pass CORCA and protect the industry that keeps this country running.