EarlM
Guest
We live in Penasco full time and have been here throughout the lockdown. We had medical appointments in San Diego last week so we left town on July 3rd. This was our first trip north to USA since February. No issues departing. We returned to town yesterday (7/14) and this was our experience:
No line of cars and we crossed Lukeville border south around 2:00PM. Got red light and they poked through all our stuff and asked if we had any guns (they have not asked us that in the past). We showed receipts for some new/boxed items we had in the car (under $300) but the inspector seemed more interested in looking for firearms. While we were stopped, every car behind us also got a red light, three cars or so. We were waived by at the National Guard checkpoint right after the border. Sonoyta roads were fairly empty, no police in sight. We wore our masks and did the crawl through town.
When we arrived at the sanitation road block in Puerto Penasco with about three vehicles in front of us. There are two lines, one for residents and one for tourists. We have our permanent resident cards so we went in the resident line. The man looked at our cards, smiled and gestured us to get out and walk through the sanitation tunnel. They took our temps as we came out of the tunnel. We returned to the car and they sprayed the front seats and dash with magic bug solution. We then drove off and were on our way to our house. That was it. No forms. No stickers. No questions. The tourist line seemed to take longer and there were people with papers in their hands like they had to fill out things. We had current CFE bills and other papers to show we have a house here, but they did not ask for any of it, just looked at our residency cards. Seemed a bit chaotic, but all were friendly and it was no big deal.
As a side note, on the US side of the Lukeville crossing they were in the process of installing a large x-ray machine, like big enough for tractor trailers. This is in addition to the smaller one they have at the secondary inspection area. The new one is almost in the middle of the road as you head south to the MX entry point. You have to swerve around it towards the gas station to continue south. So money is being spent to "improve" the Lukeville port of entry.
No line of cars and we crossed Lukeville border south around 2:00PM. Got red light and they poked through all our stuff and asked if we had any guns (they have not asked us that in the past). We showed receipts for some new/boxed items we had in the car (under $300) but the inspector seemed more interested in looking for firearms. While we were stopped, every car behind us also got a red light, three cars or so. We were waived by at the National Guard checkpoint right after the border. Sonoyta roads were fairly empty, no police in sight. We wore our masks and did the crawl through town.
When we arrived at the sanitation road block in Puerto Penasco with about three vehicles in front of us. There are two lines, one for residents and one for tourists. We have our permanent resident cards so we went in the resident line. The man looked at our cards, smiled and gestured us to get out and walk through the sanitation tunnel. They took our temps as we came out of the tunnel. We returned to the car and they sprayed the front seats and dash with magic bug solution. We then drove off and were on our way to our house. That was it. No forms. No stickers. No questions. The tourist line seemed to take longer and there were people with papers in their hands like they had to fill out things. We had current CFE bills and other papers to show we have a house here, but they did not ask for any of it, just looked at our residency cards. Seemed a bit chaotic, but all were friendly and it was no big deal.
As a side note, on the US side of the Lukeville crossing they were in the process of installing a large x-ray machine, like big enough for tractor trailers. This is in addition to the smaller one they have at the secondary inspection area. The new one is almost in the middle of the road as you head south to the MX entry point. You have to swerve around it towards the gas station to continue south. So money is being spent to "improve" the Lukeville port of entry.
