Anonymous - 3-19-2004 at 11:00 PM
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/tijuana/20040318-9...
By Sandra Dibble
March 18, 2004
TIJUANA ? The first frequent-crosser lane for pedestrians on the U.S.-Mexico border is scheduled to open this fall at the San Ysidro crossing, part of
a plan by the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection to step up security while speeding the flow of car and foot traffic.
By September, the bureau also expects to double San Ysidro's capacity for car-bound commuters under the SENTRI (Secure Electronic Network for
Travelers' Rapid Inspection) program. The two lanes now assigned to the program will be expanded to four, said Adele Fasano, district director for San
Diego.
Under the program, users are screened and pay a fee to use special lanes that allow them to cross into the United States more quickly than they could
in the regular lanes.
"We say that SENTRI is our greatest security tool in our post-9/11 environment," Fasano said at a news conference yesterday to announce a series of
upgrades to the program.
As part of its package of improvements, the bureau will open its first commuter car lane at the Calexico-Mexicali border in September. A commuter car
lane is also being added in Texas at the Laredo-Nuevo Laredo crossing, Fasano said.
Close to 51,000 residents of the Tijuana-San Diego region are enrolled in the program. That number is expected to double with the opening of the two
new lanes, Fasano said.
Tijuana, Mexicali and Nuevo Laredo will receive funds from the U.S. State Department to improve roads leading to the SENTRI lanes. The money comes
from a $25 million fund created to improve security along the U.S.-Mexico border.
Because they have been screened, SENTRI users are less likely to be smuggling drugs and people across the border, freeing up U.S. inspectors to focus
more closely on the regular lanes, said David Stewart, head of the U.S. Consulate in Tijuana.
As part of the upgrades planned at San Ysidro, the Bureau of Customs and Border Protection plans to install new technology that would allow SENTRI
commuters to use either the car or pedestrian lanes. With that technology, which is already being used on the U.S.-Canada border, crossers would have
"maximum flexibility on how they choose to cross the border," Fasano said.