INS Begins Tougher Checks at Mexican Border

Adding to security measures at the U.S.-Mexico border since the Sept. 11 attacks, U.S. immigration officials on Wednesday announced stricter reviews of people who cross from Mexico.

The new steps include running instant background checks on all pedestrians and, for the first time, asking U.S. citizens to present photo identification before being allowed to enter the United States.

The new requirements were detailed in an order issued to border inspectors in California and Arizona late Wednesday.

The precautions were ordered last week by top officials of the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service in Washington, D.C. The measures were put in place in Texas and New Mexico, but immigration officials overseeing the border in California and Arizona held off while seeking greater flexibility for inspectors.

“It may increase delays somewhat, but we’re going to do everything we can do to minimize the impact,” said Virginia Kice, spokeswoman for the INS’ Western regional office.

Kice said border inspectors immediately would begin running checks on all pedestrians who show up at border crossings such as San Ysidro, where 30,000 to 35,000 people enter legally on foot each day.

Since tighter border security was instituted, inspectors have run such checks on more than 80% of those entering on foot, Kice said.

For those carrying passports and high-tech visas that can be read by machine, the process takes 15 to 20 seconds, Kice said. But for a U.S. citizen carrying other identification, entering a name into the computer manually could take two minutes. The background check makes use of a network of nationwide criminal databases.

Checks will be run on everyone who is at least 14, Kice said.

The electronic reviews will not include those entering in cars, which already are checked against a database through a system of computerized license-plate readers. An average of 40,000 vehicles enter daily at San Ysidro, the nation’s busiest border crossing.

But INS inspectors will begin asking all who show up--in cars and on foot--to carry photo identification.

Kice said the directive is an effort to ensure that inspectors across the 2,000-mile border implement uniformly the top-level security alert imposed after the attacks.