/ Modified jul 5, 2016 5:01 p.m.

Can Pilot Program Shorten Commercial Lines at Border?

U.S. and Mexico customs inspectors will combine efforts to inspect trucks once instead of twice.

MariposaPortCBP3-spotlight Commercial trucks inspected at the Mariposa Port of Entry. (2015)
Fernanda Echavarri, AZPM

A new bi­national effort is under way to shorten waiting times for trucks at the Mariposa border crossing in Nogales.

The trucks are often inspected twice, once on the Mexican side, then again on the U.S. side. A pilot program has inspection officials from both sides working together so there is only one inspection.

“It makes sense because you have U.S. Customs and Mexican Customs collaborating,” said Guillermo Valencia, the new head of the Greater Nogales Santa Cruz County Port Authority

He said it make sense and addresses staffing shortages on both sides.

“What they’re proposing would bring Mexican Customs to the U.S. Customs facility where they would together clear shipments and in essences save time and money for those shipments,” Valencia said.

The program will be tested for 120 days. If it works, it could mean a new way of doing inspections across the entire 2,000-mile U.S.-Mexico border.

MORE: Arizona, Border, News
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