Do I need a passport to cross into Tijuana?

The short answer is yes, if you’re walking or driving across you do need a passport. If you don’t have a passport, they will accept a driver’s license and a birth certificate.

Officials are trying to phase in the passport requirement, but come on. What are they going to do if you don’t have it? Refuse to let you back in the U.S.? They may detain you for a bit and ask you citizenship questions, but they’ll eventually let you back in.

What most people don’t know is that until 2008, you didn’t even need a driver’s license or birth certificate to get back into the U.S. It was highly recommended, but if you didn’t have either, all that was required was a verbal statement of citizenship. It was up to Border Agents to challenge your verbal declaration.

My how things have changed.

UPDATE: I’ve crossed a few times without my Sentri and it looks like Border Agents are still accepting driver’s licenses only. So no need to freak if you don’t have your birth certificate or passport. Ven a Tijuana!

Why the hell was there a line getting IN to Tijuana last night?

If you were one of the unlucky thousand to get stuck in the insane traffic heading back into Tijuana last night, I’d like to start off by saying sorry. Traffic sucks.

I just got off the phone with the San Ysidro Port of Entry press guy and he says it was a “standard outbound operation,” meaning, they exercise their right to check people leaving the country every now and then when they have sufficient funding and staffing.

Essentially, they’re looking for terrorists, stolen cars, drugs, felons and undocumented workers, whom they process and deport.

The last part, the part about deporting the undocumented workers, is just sort of silly. They’re on their way back to Tijuana anyway, why clog up the system?

Anyway, there it is, the answer to your burning question.

Front of the line

Pictures of the border line by Kinsee Morlan

My life just got a whole lot better. This morning, at precisely 10:45 a.m., the US government issued me a Sentri pass! You San Diegans may recognize the term “Sentri” from your daily traffic report, “There’s an hour and a half wait at San Ysidro Port of Entry, and you’ve got about 15 minutes in the Sentri line.”

Oh yeah, baby. Now I’m part of the wait-for-15-minutes-instead-of-two-hours crew, and if feels good. Freedom feels damn good. So why did I wait so long? I’ve crossed with the non-Sentri holders for a year now, but I have my reasons. In fact, I have three reasons: