Tijuana's Customs Director says customs agents at the San Ysidro border crossing won't begin testing a plan to screen all cars headed into Mexico until September. Customs officials had wanted to start the program at the end of last month.
Mexico is in the midst of rolling out a plan to screen all cars headed into the country for smuggled merchandise, cash and guns.
Tijuana's customs director, Carlos Ramirez, says the program has been delayed at the San Ysidro border crossing because of concerns it will create long waits to get into Tijuana.
"As a result of meetings with Baja California government officials and Tijuana business groups, we are trying to see if we can reduce the time it takes to screen each car to five seconds."
That's three seconds less than Mexico's original proposal. Studies show if the scan takes more than eight seconds, it'll cause massive traffic. Some Tijuana business groups have asked for Mexico to build extra southbound lanes to handle the traffic they anticipate.
Meanwhile, Ramirez says it's not clear when the screening will start in full.
