Tijuana once again sets up additional checkpoint at border crossing
Mexican authorities have resurrected additional security checkpoints for U.S.-bound drivers approaching the San Ysidro Port of Entry in Tijuana during the busy holiday travel season — a move that has many border commuters worried about increased traffic headaches. The new inspection point, set up on Thanksgiving Day in the SENTRI lanes, is part of a pilot program by Tijuana officials meant to add an extra layer of security and deter unauthorized travelers before drivers reach the international boundary line. At the boundary line is where U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents then, as they have for some years now, ask drivers to show their documents before they approach the official inspection booth. The hope — as was the first time around — is that CBP will decide that the Mexican inspections are robust enough to replace CBP’s first line of officers. Those U.S. officers could then be deployed to additional inspection booths at the port of entry, therefore reducing wait times. Staffing issues have long prevented all inspection lanes from being staffed at the port of entry. Tijuana’s secretary of economic development, Pedro Montejo Peterson, said