Of the 37,176 vehicles currently enrolled in the San Diego-Tijuana Secure Electronic Travelers Rapid Inspection (SENTRI) program, about 8,200 still need to be converted to a newer technology Radio Frequency Identification decal that will provide secure occupant information to CBP officers as the vehicles enter ports of entry from Mexico.
Detection equipment at the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa ports of entry that reads the old windshield-mounted transponder will be turned off on Thursday, June 22, replaced by newer equipment that reads an RFID chip embedded within the official SENTRI windshield decal, officials said.
The vehicle conversion does not require an appointment and requires about 20 minutes to complete at the Otay Mesa passenger port, said James Hynes, director of the San Ysidro and Otay Mesa passenger ports of entry.
"We're confident most of the outstanding vehicles are either intentional non-users or infrequent SENTRI users who have not used the SENTRI lanes this year," he said. "However, we're asking SENTRI participants who have not yet acted to visit our Otay Mesa office as soon as possible so we can make the conversion."
Unconverted vehicles entering the SENTRI lanes after June 21will temporarily be removed from the SENTRI program and will be referred to the SENTRI office so that the swap can be made. The SENTRI office is open 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. daily, including weekends.
The technology conversion project is unrelated to another CBP effort to renew SENTRI privileges for thousands of area participants whose memberships have expired. About 21,200 participants are currently scheduled for renewal appointments and may continue to use the SENTRI lanes as long as they have traded their vehicle transponder for the newer RFID decal, Hynes said.
Hynes encouraged SENTRI participants whose membership has expired or is about to expire to make a renewal appointment and ensure they are using the new RFID decal so that they may continue to use the SENTRI lanes.
