California’s Otay Mesa Port of Entry returns to normal 24/7 schedule

SAN DIEGO — U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials are announcing that the Otay Mesa port of entry in San Diego County will begin operating 24 hours a day.

The change applies only to the passenger portion of the border crossing, there are no changes to the cargo or commercial facility operating hours.

“Previously, CBP scaled staffing as traffic volumes decreased drastically at the Otay Mesa Border Crossing because of COVID-19 and the travel restrictions,” said Pete Flores, CBP director of Field Operations for San Diego.

“We continue to monitor traffic volumes and are now proactively increasing the hours of operation at Otay Mesa even though the travel restrictions remain,” he said.

On May, CBP officials began operating the Otay Mesa port of entry from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. At that time, CBP officials had experienced sustained decreases in the volume of northbound traffic arriving at the Otay Mesa passenger port of entry.

CBP officials said they had seen a 44 percent decrease in vehicle traffic and a 68 percent decrease on the pedestrian side.

But for the past six weeks or so, traffic has returned to near normal levels and congestion at the port of entry, especially in the mornings, had returned.

Source: Borderreport