General Reports

[Baxter Slade]

Forgive me if this is obvious as I don't mean to come across as an upstart trying to "school" the experienced / expert mongers on this site (whose generous sharing of their experience has aided me greatly on my visits to Tijuana), but are you sure that long line you saw was actually for the Ready Lane? Keep in mind there is some sort of customs house building that is on the right side just before the entrance turnstiles, and the line for THAT sometimes backs up into the Ready Lane line, and makes it look like there is a second line, for the Ready / Sentri entry, to the right of the general public line.

I only bring this up because, the very first time I used my Ready card, I made the mistake of wasting about an hour waiting in that line, thinking it was for Ready / Sentri entry thru the turnstiles, only to see that it wasn't for Ready / Sentri entry at all but rather for locals waiting to enter the building on the right. and if I had simply walked past that line, I would've seen that the Ready line was only about 20 people deep near the front. I've never made that mistake again.

In general, I've never seen the Ready line backed all the way up to the Pedestrian bridge, even during the busiest of periods. In fact, I've never seen it backed up so far that it goes out of the building (if that). But that's in my experience.

My first thought was this can't be the ready lane. I have used it many times and I know exactly what you are referring to with that line that forms going into the imigragtion building just past the turnstyles. As a matter of fact I to thought this can not be the line for the ready lane. So I walked all the way to the turnstyle in order to confirm it, rather than just ask the last person in line. And yes I did wait in that line for 2 hours.

On the other hand I crossed back today around 10:30 am and the general line was past the ped bridge about to the entrance of that red Billiars bar. And the ready lane was clear sailing inside the building with a 5 minute wait. Go figure.

[Burma Jones]

The "best" spot is the Beyer or Iris trolley station lot. The trolley drops you right at the border, no need to dick around with the bridge, no need to pay inflated weekend parking prices.

It takes 3 or 4 months to get your car approved for SENTRI. The inspection is quick, it's just waiting around for them to process the paperwork. They have not loosened the requirements. What time will you return? If late, Otay Mesa may be a better bet. The line will be shorter and there is a Ready Lane for vehicles.

Phordphan,

I have parked at the trolley lots for a day trip but please correct me if I am wrong, don't you have to go to one of the stations (perhaps even in central San Diego) to pay for and get necessary paperwork for overnight parking? I seem to remember reading about it and it being a big pain so I just continue to park at the border for overnight stays due to the hassle.

[Phordphan]

I hadn't been to Tijuana in a year, so I guess it's not surprising that I made the mistake of parking on the South side of the freeway. I had to walk across the bridge both ways LOL. I gather the best place to park is on the North now? What's the best parking spot these days. I have a Sentri / Global entry card so that helps a lot.

Next month I will be going down with my Brother who is slightly disabled and can't walk far, so I am going to have to drive across. It will be my first time doing that except for mistakenly doing it 4 years ago, like the Marine who's stuck there now. Any advice on where to park, and how best to return? I'm assuming there's a special line for Sentri but my car is not approved since I got a new one. I think I'm going to have to have it inspected before I go across next time or have they loosened up those requirements?

The "best" spot is the Beyer or Iris trolley station lot. The trolley drops you right at the border, no need to dick around with the bridge, no need to pay inflated weekend parking prices.

It takes 3 or 4 months to get your car approved for SENTRI. The inspection is quick, it's just waiting around for them to process the paperwork. They have not loosened the requirements. What time will you return? If late, Otay Mesa may be a better bet. The line will be shorter and there is a Ready Lane for vehicles.

[Phordphan]

Forgive me as I know this is off-topic and off-forum, so I'll make it short, but I just HAVE to say: perhaps I'm biased as a long-time San Diego resident who's been going to Mexico since childhood, but is there anyone who agrees with me doesn't believe this Marine's story for a New York minute? I'm getting a bit tired of all the hypocritical "anti-Mexico" hoopla on this side of the border about it. All I know is that if a Mexican military member was caught crossing the USA Border, in secondary, with a bunch of military-grade weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammo, he'd be thrown into one of our jails without the key, and all the hypocrites would be raging against illegal incursions into our country of dangerous Mexican criminals, and how we need to clamp down on it.

Yet when the tables are turned, and Mexico does the same thing towards someone who appeared to be smuggling military arms into their country, we rant on and on about their backwards / corrupt justice system. Bull!

I can absolutely believe that if you come back from Tijuana drunk and getting on the 5 south to Mexico. It would depend, of course, on where you parked in the first place. Once you're past that final exit, you're fucked. IIRC, there used to be a you-turn area many, many moons ago. Now, you're committed.

Having said that, I don't think we're getting the whole story. Something is fishy. As a side note, this incident has proven that our Prez and SecState, together, don't have two balls between them.

[Reinaldo]

AFAIK The haven't waived the prior inspection requirement for adding or replacing a vehicle on your Sentri card.

I'm assuming there's a special line for Sentri but my car is not approved since I got a new one. I think I'm going to have to have it inspected before I go across next time or have they loosened up those requirements?

[Av8r]

I hadn't been to Tijuana in a year, so I guess it's not surprising that I made the mistake of parking on the South side of the freeway. I had to walk across the bridge both ways LOL. I gather the best place to park is on the North now? What's the best parking spot these days. I have a Sentri / Global entry card so that helps a lot.

Next month I will be going down with my Brother who is slightly disabled and can't walk far, so I am going to have to drive across. It will be my first time doing that except for mistakenly doing it 4 years ago, like the Marine who's stuck there now. Any advice on where to park, and how best to return? I'm assuming there's a special line for Sentri but my car is not approved since I got a new one. I think I'm going to have to have it inspected before I go across next time or have they loosened up those requirements?

[LukeSkywalker]

From the other Tijuana site, Nikki's is a bar, BBQ joint cum brothel with rooms on the premises. It's owned by a couple black bros, one named Larry, from San Diego.

It's not doing too well in food, drinks, rooms or chicas, reportedly older and chubbier women with high prices. Other bros have been patronizing this joint to help the business going, but that area is dangerous to walk to day or night. There have been a number of choking and robberies reported recently.

For policias to bring in armored vehicles for the raid, they must anticipate resistance and shooting like cartels. It's very serious business.

I hope the bros did not get caught up in child prostitution business. It could be very bad for all involved.

[MayerinSD]

forgive me as i know this is off-topic and off-forum, so i'll make it short, but i just have to say: perhaps i'm biased as a long-time san diego resident who's been going to mexico since childhood, but is there anyone who agrees with me doesn't believe this marine's story for a new york minute? i'm getting a bit tired of all the hypocritical "anti-mexico" hoopla on this side of the border about it. all i know is that if a mexican military member was caught crossing the usa border, in secondary, with a bunch of military-grade weapons and hundreds of rounds of ammo, he'd be thrown into one of our jails without the key, and all the hypocrites would be raging against illegal incursions into our country of dangerous mexican criminals, and how we need to clamp down on it.

yet when the tables are turned, and mexico does the same thing towards someone who appeared to be smuggling military arms into their country, we rant on and on about their backwards / corrupt justice system. bull!

news reports have confirmed it was a raid of nikkis looking for **** girls working as prostitutes. even reports that an armored vehicle was brought in all the way from mexico city just for this operation. i'm amazed at the size of this operation, seeing as how there are rarely customers in this joint and the most girls working there at one time is probably around 7. yea it definitely looked like something more than a raid, with armored vehicles police at both ends of the street closing it for most of the day and crime scene tape blocking off the area. but on second thought it was probably more of a show just looking for press coverage to show they were concerned about human trafficing of minors. probably even hoping to capture the attention of american journalists who have been in town covering the case of the jailed american marine.

[MayerinSD]

The ready lane line was about 100 feet past the ped bridge. And the general public line was a lot longer, but was moving faster, due to more lanes open for the general line.

Forgive me if this is obvious as I don't mean to come across as an upstart trying to "school" the experienced / expert mongers on this site (whose generous sharing of their experience has aided me greatly on my visits to Tijuana), but are you sure that long line you saw was actually for the Ready Lane? Keep in mind there is some sort of customs house building that is on the right side just before the entrance turnstiles, and the line for THAT sometimes backs up into the Ready Lane line, and makes it look like there is a second line, for the Ready / Sentri entry, to the right of the general public line.

I only bring this up because, the very first time I used my Ready card, I made the mistake of wasting about an hour waiting in that line, thinking it was for Ready / Sentri entry thru the turnstiles, only to see that it wasn't for Ready / Sentri entry at all but rather for locals waiting to enter the building on the right...and if I had simply walked past that line, I would've seen that the Ready line was only about 20 people deep near the front. I've never made that mistake again.

In general, I've never seen the Ready line backed all the way up to the Pedestrian bridge, even during the busiest of periods. In fact, I've never seen it backed up so far that it goes out of the building (if that). But that's in my experience.

[Baxter Slade]

anybody know what was going on on 1st street today. the policia had the road closed and crime scene tape up all day by nikkis. i'm hearing conflicting repots. first heard 2 policia shot. then heard something about a raid involving **** working girls. anybody know what really happened.

news reports have confirmed it was a raid of nikkis looking for **** girls working as prostitutes. even reports that an armored vehicle was brought in all the way from mexico city just for this operation. i'm amazed at the size of this operation, seeing as how there are rarely customers in this joint and the most girls working there at one time is probably around 7. yea it definitely looked like something more than a raid, with armored vehicles police at both ends of the street closing it for most of the day and crime scene tape blocking off the area. but on second thought it was probably more of a show just looking for press coverage to show they were concerned about human trafficing of minors. probably even hoping to capture the attention of american journalists who have been in town covering the case of the jailed american marine.

[ItsMeBeyatch]

they were looking for **** girls at nikki's and in the zona

anybody know what was going on on 1st street today. the policia had the road closed and crime scene tape up all day by nikkis. i'm hearing conflicting repots. first heard 2 policia shot. then heard something about a raid involving **** working girls. anybody know what really happened.

.

[Baxter Slade]

anybody know what was going on on 1st street today. the policia had the road closed and crime scene tape up all day by nikkis. i'm hearing conflicting repots. first heard 2 policia shot. then heard something about a raid involving **** working girls. anybody know what really happened.

[Sound7]

I value as inputs for my future trips to Mexico. Thank you for the responses.

1) Hundred (100} feet past the ped bridge took two hours to clear on a major holiday weekend. Ref: Hugotheman.

2) SENTRI and GLOBAL ENTRY ROCK. So does NEXUS. Over the past years been to secondary twice one for having newspaper in my pant backpocket and using SENTRI car lane. Random selection. The questions have varied from a wave to deep discussions on the "One litter rule" "48 hours stay rule / One litter", "what did you do in Mexico?, What did you buy?"and various other location questions / road trip deep in Mexico.

It seems to me you have the VIP SENTRI package for some reason and you are not a CBP staff. That is great HT!

I went through that SENTRI line 11 times this month without any more difficult questions than "What are you bringing back?" Never even a question as difficult as "What were you doing in Mexico?" or "How long were you in Mexico?

Of those 11 crossings, twice people in front of me were taken off to secondary screening. Neither of those people had anything that looked like a SENTRI card or even a passport. They both looked like shady characters trying to talk their way into the US. While the SENTRI agent was gone, the next agent stopped the ready lane and took people from the SENTRI line. SENTRI and GLOBAL ENTRY ROCK
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Hugotheman
Reports 253

The ready lane line was about 100 feet past the ped bridge. And the general public line was a lot longer, but was moving faster, due to more lanes open for the general line. !

[HorseTrader]

Sentri Line is a zero tolerance program based on low risk assessment of individual and family. Google "SENTRI Denial and Revokation" for more details. Individual and family are screened at level too intence on some occasions during the interview process and at SENTRI Line. Sentri line scanner was out of order on Sunday. Wait period 5 minutes. On this day three trick question interview and told to exit avoiding the secondary inspection. Fear the secondary as it could be the end of SENTRI, a possible revokation. No second chance know and follow the CBP process as it can be confussing at times.

I went through that SENTRI line 11 times this month without any more difficult questions than "What are you bringing back?" Never even a question as difficult as "What were you doing in Mexico?" or "How long were you in Mexico?

Of those 11 crossings, twice people in front of me were taken off to secondary screening. Neither of those people had anything that looked like a SENTRI card or even a passport. They both looked like shady characters trying to talk their way into the US. While the SENTRI agent was gone, the next agent stopped the ready lane and took people from the SENTRI line. SENTRI and GLOBAL ENTRY ROCK!

[Baxter Slade]

The ready lane line was about 100 feet past the ped bridge. And the general public line was a lot longer, but was moving faster, due to more lanes open for the general line.