Cross-border yard monitoring in Calexico

Local and live

Next to the Calexico East commercial crossing

Calexico sits on the border across from Mexicali, reached by State Routes 98, 7 and 111, with Interstate 8 five miles to the north and State Route 86 running toward the Imperial Valley's farm towns. All truck traffic entering the US from Mexicali crosses at Calexico East, where new northbound truck lanes opened in November 2023 as part of a $32.5 million project; the crossing now carries about 453,000 commercial trucks and 2.6 million vehicles a year, moving an estimated $20 billion in exports and imports.

Theft reaches across the Imperial Valley too. After several trailers loaded with irrigation pipe and sprinklers were taken from valley farms in 2022, the Imperial County Sheriff's Office and the District Attorney's investigators traced them to a yard in Brawley, and in August 2023 the man holding them was ordered to pay $90,578.18 in restitution. A cross-dock or trailer yard near the crossing needs more than a lock on the gate.

At a Calexico yard, the gate gets attention right away: agents see each truck arrive on camera, speak to the driver through the site's speakers and open the gate remotely, logging the visit. Parking reports then track which trailers are on the lot, with damage inspections and visual seal checks on video recording their condition as they arrive and leave. Overnight, AI person and vehicle detection watches the stacks and the fence line, and a live, instant talk-down through the speakers meets anyone who shouldn't be there.

Also covering El Centro, Heber, Imperial, Seeley, Holtville, Westmorland.