When you cross the us/mexican border what does border partrol type into there computers

Question

my husband and i cross the border often. this last week they looked at our car and didn't ask one thing. just say to us "go ahead" so i just wonder. what are the typing into to the computer? does our photo show up or what?

Answer 1

Your car plates give them a lot of information about who you are....

Photos of your past crossing (both going out of and in to the US) and those who were with you at those times show up on screen.

Also, they keep a running log of anything and i mean anything that previous crossing guards have noticed. this is a common practice by many businesses too.  The note may only say, "nervous today" or "had 4 copanions" or "very old car this time" or "sent to 2nd inspection".

then your ID or PASSPORT is swiped and cross-referenced with whatever license plate you are in with this time.

by the way, when they ask you easy questions they almost always already know the answer. what they are doing is checking to see if you are a liar. and if you lie, then you get questioned more....example: my freind once said he had just been in mexico for 2 days when in fact he had been there for a week.  well his plates showed that his car crossed into mexico a week ago. so he got grilled because his answer did not match the info...but he had an explination:  he crossed into the US 2 days ago just to go to some shop. he had gone on my car for that short trip and the guard at that time did not ask us for our passports so no record was there to show his current trip was 2 days even though his car had spent one week in mexico.

all from some simple question....i'm guessing the previous crossing guard did not put any notes on what he did. so the last gaurd had no choice but to question us like crazy.

Edit: i dont know about other boarder crossings, but ALL crossings into California record license plate when you exit and enter the U.S.A. I dont see why they wouldnt do that at all other crossings...look at the camers that flash a very faint red light at each car that crosses.

Answer 2

Every car is not recorded. Only vehicles that are selected are recorded and it's by the plate number and vehicle description.