BajaNomad - Why is San Ysidro SENTRI car lane so long lately?

Why is San Ysidro SENTRI car lane so long lately?

SlyOnce - 2-27-2014 at 10:07 AM

I usually hit the border at 6 AM for my morning commute from Playas. Usually the wait is about 10 to 15 minutes. This week its been 25 to 35 every day. Any ideas as to what's going on?

Hit it at 5:45 this morning and waited 35 min.

Going to try 5:30 tomorrow, its terrible, all backed up along the Via Rapida.

baconjr - 2-27-2014 at 01:01 PM

Walked thru Ready lane at Otay on a Saturday evening and it was a 30 minute wait to walk from the scary dancers to the agent. They had 1 freaking inspector working the Ready lane. The regular entrance had 3. Sometimes the SENTRI inspectors cop an attitude. They have gone thru my wives car, x-rayed it and made her get the dogs up and show medical records for the dogs because the dogs didn't get excited crossing. My old beagle will sleep thru an atomic blast. I think that when an inspector is having a bad day everybody gets a bad day. It would be nice to have a customer survey box that we could fill out and tell of the frustration of dealing with these people.

mtgoat666 - 2-27-2014 at 01:10 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by baconjr
Walked thru Ready lane at Otay on a Saturday evening and it was a 30 minute wait to walk from the scary dancers to the agent. They had 1 freaking inspector working the Ready lane. The regular entrance had 3. Sometimes the SENTRI inspectors cop an attitude. They have gone thru my wives car, x-rayed it and made her get the dogs up and show medical records for the dogs because the dogs didn't get excited crossing. My old beagle will sleep thru an atomic blast. I think that when an inspector is having a bad day everybody gets a bad day. It would be nice to have a customer survey box that we could fill out and tell of the frustration of dealing with these people.

i find that when I enter mexico they border people are generally friendly, certainly never nasty,... the USA border people are exact opposite - they all hate their jobs and take it out on border crossers, FREQUENTLY being nasty to border crossers.

i think the border people are the very worst face of the USA, the first thing a citizen returning home or a new visitor to USA encounters is a surly a$$$hole!

after crossing many international borders, i have only encountered nasty inspectors at one: USA.

in their little pea brains, i think 911, patriot act, and xenophobia provide them justification to be prickkss

Udo - 2-27-2014 at 02:04 PM

This is one topic of discussion my wife and I have had for years.

The Tecate CBP agents have always been friendly, and smile...even the ones that have dark glasses on.
The slight attitude ones (and I mean slight), have been the secondary inspectors.

bajaguy - 2-27-2014 at 02:19 PM

I was told by a CBP gal at Otay that CBP people rotate through duty posts/assignments every 30 minutes so they don't get "stuck" at a booth or in secondary.

Never had a attitude problem at Otay SENTRI even when I was directed to secondary for a "random SENTRI inspection".........it was all "please, thank-you, may I, can I, yes sir and no sir"....on their part.

Before I was directed to secondary, the CBP gal at the booth asked if a secondary inspection would delay me or make me late for anything.

Quite polite and professional at the booth and in secondary

DavidE - 2-27-2014 at 03:36 PM

The fastest way to a promotion in The Department of justice is to make a huge bust. Being promoted from "Agent" to "Special Agent" is a big step forward.

PRIME DIRECTIVE of U.S. Customs...

Never Show The Same Face Twice.

Means be unpredictable

Ever had a Customs Agent ask you with a straight face...

How many kilos of cocaine are you bringing in today?
How many Krugerrand's have you hidden in your luggage?

Think it's funny? One wince or chuckle and you will find yourself in Secondary with a yellow tag on your windshield.

bajaguy - 2-27-2014 at 04:05 PM

David, David, David..........you are blowing smoke out of the top of your hat..........While making a "big bust" may help to boost a person up the career ladder, that is not the only criteria. Additionally, the 1811 federal employment series does not have "agents"....federal officers under the 1811 are "Special Agents", Inspectors (US Postal Service), Deputy Marshals (USMS).......

And please show the reference for the "Prime Directive" of the US Customs service.............

In 48 years of crossing the border, I have never been asked how many kilos of anything I was bringing in or how many Krugerrands I have hidden...but i have been asked to declare anything i was bringing back into the US.......from Mexico, Canada, Germany and Viet-Nam

Quote:

Originally posted by DavidE
The fastest way to a promotion in The Department of justice is to make a huge bust. Being promoted from "Agent" to "Special Agent" is a big step forward.

PRIME DIRECTIVE of U.S. Customs...

Never Show The Same Face Twice.

Means be unpredictable

Ever had a Customs Agent ask you with a straight face...

How many kilos of cocaine are you bringing in today?
How many Krugerrand's have you hidden in your luggage?

Think it's funny? One wince or chuckle and you will find yourself in Secondary with a yellow tag on your windshield.

wessongroup - 2-27-2014 at 04:14 PM

Just depends on how one responds to the question :biggrin:

willardguy - 2-27-2014 at 04:28 PM

Quote:

I'll bet you meant to say "department of homeland security", right pickleE?

DavidE - 2-27-2014 at 04:29 PM

Look at their badge.

The DIRECTOR of the Tecate POE used that phrase so I adopted PRIME DIRECTIVE. Never show the same face twice. When I spent almost three years in Tecate and sometimes crossed two or three times a day I asked a lot of questions. You bet your bum they sent me to secondary. I forgot how many times. There was NEVER any "familiarity" given or taken in my crossings. Yeah I wired a three phase 480 transformer and 20 truck private truck garage on the East side of the City. Metal Halide lights, a fluorescent lit truck pit, the whole enchilada. It was a learning experience.

So I guess several hundreds of crossings exposed me to a larger cross sample than what can be normally expected. I shopped, did the internet cafe bit, and even my laundry crossing the border. Mexican Aduana was a hell of a lot more blase about it than US Customs. That's how I learned about the Tec II CBP computer database system, which has probably by now been replaced. It HAS been 12-1/2 years and yeah I watched everything come apart after 09/11. Bicycling trails and setting off sensors, like I say it was an intense learning experience. I spent hours in the office of Aduana visiting and asking questions.

I'll bet anything I couldn't get NEAR the Port Director these days.

tjsue - 2-27-2014 at 08:41 PM

I've been told by some CBP officers that they get rotated every hour, but it may depend on their supervisor. I've never had any of them be rude to me, and I went through secondary for three months every time I crossed, even on foot. I went through secondary so often, that most of the agents got to know me, and started asking me why I went to secondary every time I crossed. They stopped inspecting my van and sending the dogs through it. After I got into the lane that I was waved into, I unlocked all the doors and popped the hood latch, so when an officer came over, it made it easier on them.

But that's ended now, I have another Sentri interview on Tuesday, and I hoping that I get approved this time.

dasubergeek - 2-27-2014 at 09:03 PM

I've never had a truly rude one in SENTRI. I've had one guy be a bit curt. There's one guy at the SY regular lane who is just an absolute curmudgeon... shouting about an excess of olive oil (wtf?) before he put the stupid cone on my car and shipped me off to secondary, where the very nice young kid scratched his head and couldn't figure out what was going on.

The only time I've seen a rude SENTRI was crossing on foot, where the SENTRI inspector processes Ready Lane people when there's no one in the SENTRI lane. I scanned and he called my name right away (SENTRI has priority), and the woman who was next in the Ready Lane pushed past me... he was extremely cross, made her go back and wait, and then shipped her to secondary while I was putting my stuff through the scanner.

SlyOnce - 2-28-2014 at 10:11 AM

Today (Friday) I hit the SY SENTRI Car line at 5:35 AM. It was very short < 10 minutes wait. I got to work at 6:15 - way too early! I counted 5 booths open, and several had 2 windows. The far right has only 1 window.

I can't see any reason for extra traffic this week. Maybe because the holiday season is finally over or they are just issuing more SENTRI cards. Regular traffic lanes seemed normal or light.

I cross about 6 times a week, sometimes twice in a day if I go shopping on the US side.

I often see the same inspectors, I get many comments about living in Playas (One guy said "you must be living like a king down there!") - if he only knew!

To expedite crossings -

remove hat and sunglasses
turn off music
put down phone
open all windows prior to hitting the booth

I always say "good morning" in English!

Show them your SENTRI card with the picture up, and without your finger or thumb covering the photo.

You can be sent to Secondary for any reason, but -

Once in a while you get sent to Secondary for a "compliance check". It is random. I was told its generated on their computer system back in Atlanta, it has nothing to do with you or your presentation.

An agent handing my most recent "compliance" said it happens more often around 8 AM.

Please have US registration, insurance, and drivers license ready when you hit secondary for a compliance check.

Some agents are friendly and chatty, some are rude buttcracks. One once said to me

"Welcome back to your homeland fellow citizen!"

as if I had just arrived from Ecuador instead of driving 7 miles from my apt in Playas.