Sentri Pass thread

[Baja_Traveler]

14 Minutes?? When did you cross? Midnight?

[Mahigeer]

Maybe he forgot the daylight savings!!

Just kidding Sir.

[makobob]

10:40 am, drove all the way past the TOWER before line stopped. Never had that happen before.

[GTT]

Nexus Card

[Mahigeer]

I think that is for Canada, not Mexico.

[rossman]

There is an interesting thread on one of the other forums that I follow regarding the SENTRI card. Here's what the OP originally posted:


So I've had my SENTRI for 5 years now (I am waiting for the renewal as we speak). I very rarely go to Baja unless I cam doing some sort of camping. I've crossed about 50-75 times with my SENTRI and a pretty loaded Land Cruiser with camp gear.

Today however as I was coming back north, the CBP officer was very upset about me having a "full" SUV of gear. He said I was violating SENTRI laws, and that he could revoke my card, send me to secondary, etc.

Anyways, since I've been home I'm trying to find the rules and see if it explicitly says anything about this. I don't recall seeing anything and I've never had another officer even mention anything. He said that I need to use the Ready lanes next time.

I don't have a pass and have no intentions of getting one since I only cross the border once or twice a year but I thought this was interesting. Anyone ever read the fine print on going through with a loaded vehicle versus just human cargo?

Just as an aside, Aquachico, who is an old time member of BWE and no doubt crosses the border more often than makobob, left the following advice on the other forum.

It's a coin toss. Best thing to do is call their bluff. Say you are aware you have a lot of stuff and it goes against the spirit of the sentri lane. You would like to go into secondary as you are not in a hurry.

Done it a few times. Once I went into secondary, it's a 15 minute dog sniff. Good time to stretch, take a quick nap or hit the head.

[Mahigeer]

Thanks for the heads up. I would not call 50-75 trips "rarely".

I don't recall seeing anything except trailer use issue.

For me going to secondary is not a problem. I hope they have bathroom, or it is peeing in the jar.

Waiting in long line is the issue, but once I get to the booth, I have all day if they want to search my SUV.

I think the officer had a bad day, and maybe felt empowered to be harsh toward the OP. Lot of that is going on these days.

[rossman]

Originally Posted by Mahigeer

Thanks for the heads up. I would not call 50-75 trips "rarely".

I don't recall seeing anything except trailer use issue.

For me going to secondary is not a problem. I hope they have bathroom, or it is peeing in the jar.

Waiting in long line is the issue, but once I get to the booth, I have all day if they want to search my SUV.

I think the officer had a bad day, and maybe felt empowered to be harsh toward the OP. Lot of that is going on these days.

I think you are right about the bad day for the officer, or the traveler brought it on himself with an attitude. You never know.

Only been in secondary once and that was at San Ysidro, ironically because I got into the SENTRI lane by mistake and couldn't get out. There they had a proper rest room.

[rossman]

Originally Posted by Mahigeer

Thanks for the heads up. I would not call 50-75 trips "rarely".

I don't recall seeing anything except trailer use issue.

For me going to secondary is not a problem. I hope they have bathroom, or it is peeing in the jar.

Waiting in long line is the issue, but once I get to the booth, I have all day if they want to search my SUV.

I think the officer had a bad day, and maybe felt empowered to be harsh toward the OP. Lot of that is going on these days.

By the way I think the OP was saying he used the sentri 75 times and rarely was he not loaded with camping gear.

[Mahigeer]

I am currently waiting to hear from CBP regarding acceptance of my revised application due to the new car information.

To save time, I submitted the license plate that I will have on the SUV. However, I first have to receive the plates that DMV will be sending me and then exchange it.

I am hoping against hope that they do not check the vin against the eventual plates. Since it would be different.

However, when it is said and done and when I cross the border, the information on the application will be correct.

It may take up to (90) days to receive the new plates and since I ordered new replacement plates for the existing ones that may even take longer. The application process is a long time ordeal too. I just hope by the end of the year I have it all settled!

[Baja_Traveler]

Ok - yet another post on the merits of going through the hassle of obtaining a card.

Came home from our Gonzaga trip yesterday (Memorial Day), and never in my life have I seen so many California and Arizona plates on the road - all heading the same direction for the border. At one point in the twisties down by rio Hardy there was a 75 car backup behind a motorhome, all gringos with kayaks and offroad vehicles of every sort in tow. I knew right then the border was going to be a disaster, and taking the Mexicali II crossing was the better option.

(For those that do not know, to get to that crossing you take a right at the light immediately after the underpass tunnel, then just follow that road as it meanders north/east until you see the border wall - then turn right. 1 3/4 miles down is the crossing, which is 7 miles east of Mexicali I.)

As soon as I made my right, the line of cars began. I couldn't believe that there was a 2 mile line, so I bypassed them all and cruised down to the crossing. At the left turn to the border crossing the Mexicali police were directing all the mayhem, and the middle lane I was in turned out to be a turn lane. They waved me through right into the Sentri lane and I drove past 100 or so more cars to the end of my line. I checked the clock - 12:03, and while I made my way up front, started deleting the 130 or so junk emails off my phone that had accumulated over the 5 days I was gone. I couldn't even finish the last 20 before I hit the booth - declared my Honey from the San Felipe honey man and I was through. Checked the clock - 12:13.

10 minutes to cross on one of the busiest days of the year - I'll bet I was in Alpine before the regular folk finally got across...

[Mahigeer]

Thanks for the post.

I have been looking at the satellite picture and it seems that there is bottle neck area.

It looks to me that for a while one must be in a common line then a separate Sentri lane is accessible. Am I seeing correctly?

[Baja_Traveler]

It looks like a bottleneck on the map also, but in reality they are separate lanes all the way through from the beginning. I think the gap comes from a separate lane coming in from the east that meets up with the west lanes.

[Mahigeer]

Thanks for the reply.

[makobob]

Came through today at 10am, west entrance, Sentri stopped with longer line then regular lanes. But took only 9 minutes to cross, three lanes for Sentri were open and only 30 seconds at the booth. Is it worth the hassle, YOU BETTER BELIVE IT.