Officials hold ribbon cutting ceremony for new port of entry technology

Officials with the U.S. General Services Administration, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, the city of San Luis, and with the state legislature hosted a ribbon-cutting ceremony at the San Luis Port of Entry.

The ceremony celebrated the opening of the newly constructed pedestrian annex building.

The San Luis Port of Entry sees about 2.5 million pedestrians pass through the port annually making it the second busiest non-commercial port. Public safety and getting pedestrians processed are among U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s priorities.

Now, both will have the chance to improve thanks to new cutting-edge technology only seen right here in Yuma, setting the standard for other ports along the southern United States.

“It’s a very, very economical based facility. It’s new, it’s modern,” said Port Director, John A. Schwamm.

The new building is equipped with 165 cameras that will capture a picture of your face as you approach the processing booth. A CBP officer will then review the traveler’s documents and the photo to compare.

“The outcome of this is to facilitate travel and trade,” Schwamm added.

The new building has been open for a month now and already two imposters were stopped by CBP officers for using documentation that didn’t belong to them.

At the ceremony, there were several speakers who spoke highly of the new building and technology.

One of them is Representative for Legislative District 3, Raul Grijalva.

“This $6 million investment is, I think, I believe, a very important down payment on a very needed investment in our ports of entry,” Grijalva added.

Touching on recent comments made by President Donald Trump about the possibility of the border closing, San Luis Mayor Gerardo Sanchez said this port is a vital part of our economy.

“Imagine closing the border, or even talking about closing the border for three or four days… it will not only impact the local economy but the national economy,” Sanchez said.

The new facility is also seeing the implementation of 10 pedestrian-processing booths, compared to eight previously. The 8,000 square-foot building is designed to lower operating and life-cycle costs.

This is accomplished by automated lights that turn off when not in use, low-use water fixtures to save water, and native landscaping to help the building thrive in our desert climate.

According to U.S. Senator Jon Kyl, who was also in attendance for the first time since stepping into the vacant Senate seat left behind by the late Senator John McCain, Yuma sees a $3.2 billion return towards our economy from agriculture.

The border sees about 10,000 farm workers pass through every day. Sen. Kyl said the new building will allow faster processing for these workers.

“The expansion of the pedestrian annex will allow these workers to save valuable time on their commutes every day while increasing productivity of Yuma’s farms,” U.S. Sen. Jon Kyl said.

Port Director John Schwamm said you can expect this technology to show up at the Port of Nogales next.