Well, got to see it for myself - the two new lanes under construction. Good thing they are doing it now while traffic seems to be very slow. I talked to one of the Customs agents on the way down and asked when they would be completed. He said he wasn't sure, but he urged me to write to my congressman and tell him/her that two new lanes are not going to make a difference because they do no have the staff to man them. He said they are very short staffed (full time assigned agents) and that "they" (the powers that be, I suppose) are pulling Lukeville's allotment of temporary agents.
Coming back on Sunday, they asked to secondary my boat and truck. No problem. They had me park across from the normal secondary lanes. Apparently, they have a brand new X-ray truck now. It's a F-350 with a big enclosed white box on the back. They drive the truck around both sides of the RV, truck, boat, whatever and the driver has a TV screen that shows the X-ray image. He then pulls off and does a quick review and cleared me to go.
While all those radioactive isotopes were flying around thin air (of course, the new TSA backscatter machines came to mind and I wondered what my boat's genitalia looked like through the X-ray machine), another agent asked me to step well back because of the radiation, as he did, too. I said that's a pretty neat truck -- I had been through the other X-ray machine before the gates numerous times. He said they just got the truck and they have to use it or they will lose it and it will be assigned somewhere else. So, I suspect I'll get the "drive-by" X-ray on a regular basis now. I commented to him that it's always nice to see my tax dollars at work and that I'm sure that truck cost 4 or 5 times as much as my boat. He just chuckled.
I asked him about the new lanes and staffing, just to verify what the other agent on Friday had told me. He basically said the same thing. He said nobody wants to be permanently assigned to Lukeville because there's nothing there and it's in the middle of nowhere. He said the majority of their staff are all temporaries from other locations, borrowed employees, if you will. And yes, he said they don't have enough staff to run the two new lanes even when they are finished.
For a change, all the agents were very pleasant and no surly attitudes at all. Maybe because it was very dead. All of about 5 vehicles crossed in the 25 minutes or so while they were doing the X-ray thing. maybe because of Christmas coming... who knows.
So, read whatever you want into my report, but IMHO it's pretty typical govt. at work -- expand and make it bigger, but no staff to run it. I guess we'll see.
Coming back on Sunday, they asked to secondary my boat and truck. No problem. They had me park across from the normal secondary lanes. Apparently, they have a brand new X-ray truck now. It's a F-350 with a big enclosed white box on the back. They drive the truck around both sides of the RV, truck, boat, whatever and the driver has a TV screen that shows the X-ray image. He then pulls off and does a quick review and cleared me to go.
While all those radioactive isotopes were flying around thin air (of course, the new TSA backscatter machines came to mind and I wondered what my boat's genitalia looked like through the X-ray machine), another agent asked me to step well back because of the radiation, as he did, too. I said that's a pretty neat truck -- I had been through the other X-ray machine before the gates numerous times. He said they just got the truck and they have to use it or they will lose it and it will be assigned somewhere else. So, I suspect I'll get the "drive-by" X-ray on a regular basis now. I commented to him that it's always nice to see my tax dollars at work and that I'm sure that truck cost 4 or 5 times as much as my boat. He just chuckled.
I asked him about the new lanes and staffing, just to verify what the other agent on Friday had told me. He basically said the same thing. He said nobody wants to be permanently assigned to Lukeville because there's nothing there and it's in the middle of nowhere. He said the majority of their staff are all temporaries from other locations, borrowed employees, if you will. And yes, he said they don't have enough staff to run the two new lanes even when they are finished.
For a change, all the agents were very pleasant and no surly attitudes at all. Maybe because it was very dead. All of about 5 vehicles crossed in the 25 minutes or so while they were doing the X-ray thing. maybe because of Christmas coming... who knows.
So, read whatever you want into my report, but IMHO it's pretty typical govt. at work -- expand and make it bigger, but no staff to run it. I guess we'll see.
