The Nogales port will likely install the electronic scanning system, but officials from both countries are still working out a plan.

LUKE TURF
Tucson Citizen
 
Waiting in line is no fun but it's often unavoidable.

And it will remain so until technology coming to a U.S. port of entry near you turns the painstaking experience into a breeze for those who cross the Mexican border frequently.

"This is the wave of the future," said David Randolph, border coordination officer for the Arizona/Mexico Commission.

Known as the Secure Electronic Network for Travelers Rapid Inspection, or SENTRI, the technology aims to expedite border crossings with "smart cards" installed in vehicles and read by machines, said Joe Lafata, director of the DeConcini port of entry in Nogales.

SENTRI will likely come to the DeConcini port of entry soon, though officials from both countries are still meeting to finalize a plan, Randolph said.

One of eight lanes at the DeConcini port would be converted so vehicles could roll up and be recognized by a machine that would read the smart cards.

Anyone authorized to be in the vehicle, such as members of car pools, would have their own cards read.

Once travelers get into the United States, Lafata said, another machine would read license plates to make sure the vehicle registered to the card is the same vehicle crossing the border. The vehicles would still be subject to random searches, he said.

About 9,000 vehicles cross at DeConcini every day and Lafata hesitated to predict what SENTRI would do to wait times. For the program to reduce wait times, Lafata said, enough people would have to use the SENTRI lane to offset the lane's closure to the general public.

Those most likely to use it are in the business community, including maquiladora executives who live on this side of the border and parents of children who attend school in the United States, Lafata said.

In El Paso, which already has the technology, so many people want in on the program that the biggest problem is getting them signed up, Randolph said.

Lafata said he hopes to start enrolling SENTRI users next month.