Federal officials are not going to meet their deadline to renew more than 25,000 expired fast-pass border crossing cards. They say users will be allowed to travel between California and Mexico on expired passes indefinitely. KPBS Reporter Amy Isackson has details.
Federal officials had been so focused on signing up new fast pass, or SENTRI, users, they allowed people who were already enrolled to travel on expired passes. Now almost a third of Sentri users' passes are out of date. Last February, federal officials made June 21 the renewal deadline. But Customs and Border Protection spokesman Vince Bond says his agency isn't going to make it.
Bond: "We have renewed 6,000 people since we started this process in February. But as we renew people, we have a new batch of people each month who are expiring. So, it's going to take us longer than June."
Bond doesn't know when they'll finish. Federal officials admit the renewal process has been disorganized. Many people have waited more than eight hours for an appointment. Others have had difficulty getting one at all. Amy Isackson, KPBS news.