Legal notice and privacy
By Alan Scott · Who makes this · Tijuana, Baja California ·
By Alan Scott · Who makes this · Tijuana, Baja California
Written to be understood. If anything here reads like fine print, that's our mistake — tell us and we'll rewrite it.
1 · Who we are
BuenCruce is made by one person in Tijuana, Baja California, Mexico. It isn't a company, it has no investors, and it doesn't belong to any group.
Contact: hola@buencruce.com
🔴 Because we're based in Mexico, Mexican data protection law (the LFPDPPP) is what governs this site. We've written this notice to be honest and complete rather than to satisfy any particular jurisdiction, and in practice we don't hold anything about you to protect — see section 4.
2 · Where the numbers come from
Current wait times
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP), from their public border wait time service: bwt.cbp.gov
🔴 What you need to know about that source, and almost nobody says it:
CBP publishes wait times once an hour, on the hour. There is no "live" border number. Not ours, not any other app's, not the official site's.
That's why every number on this site carries the time CBP measured it. And it's why, when a reading goes more than an hour without updating, the number dims and the colored traffic light switches off — because telling you how the border is right now using a two-hour-old reading would be lying to you.
The history
SANDAG (San Diego Association of Governments), open data, no usage restriction, built from CBP records.
The history is a daily average. It has no hours in it. That's why we can't tell you what time of day the border is shortest, and we're not going to invent it. The full explanation is here
🔴 And that source has gaps, which we publish rather than hide. There are no records at all from March 27 to April 15, 2026 — twenty consecutive days, all crossings, all lanes. When a gap affects a comparison we make, we say so in the article.
🔴 We are not affiliated with CBP or SANDAG
We don't work for them, they don't pay us, they don't supervise us and they haven't authorized anything. We use their public data and we cite it. Any error of interpretation is ours, not theirs.
3 · What this site is for, and what it is NOT for
It's for getting a sense of how the border is doing and how it has behaved historically, with the time and source of every number visible.
🔴 It is not for the following, and we'll say it plainly:
- It is not a forecast. What we publish is what already happened.
- It guarantees nothing. The number can be up to an hour behind, and the border can blow up in twenty minutes for no predictable reason. We've seen an ordinary Wednesday hit 190 minutes with no holiday anywhere near it.
- Don't make a decision you can't undo based only on this. If you have a flight, a medical appointment or a visa interview, leave extra time anyway.
We are not responsible for what happens if the reading was stale, if the source failed, or if the border changed after you checked. We do everything we can to tell you when not to trust the number — that's the reason this project exists — but the decision of when to leave is yours.
4 · What we store about you
Short answer: almost nothing, and nothing that identifies you.
And so the order below doesn't confuse you: there is exactly ONE thing that reaches our server, and it's the time you send us on purpose. It goes with no name, no account and no IP, and it's explained in detail a few lines down. Everything else stays on your phone.
We don't ask for or store
- ❌ An account, username or password
- ❌ Your name
- ❌ Your email (unless you type it into the suggestion box, and it's optional)
- ❌ Your location or GPS
- ❌ Your phone number or any document
- ❌ We don't sell, rent or share data with anyone. There is no business behind that here
What stays on your phone, and never leaves it
We keep these things in your browser's local storage (localStorage), which is a drawer inside your own phone:
| What | Why |
|---|---|
| Your favorite crossing | So it opens there next time |
| Whether you prefer light or dark | So you don't have to switch it every time |
| The last reading we managed to load | So you see something when you lose signal |
| 🆕 Which notices you've dismissed | So the one you closed doesn't come back |
| 🆕 If you tapped «In line» | The time and the crossing, nothing else. So we can ask you how long it took when you come back. 🔴 Deleted when it's sent, if you tap «cancel», or on its own after 6 hours |
That never leaves your phone. We can't read it. And if you clear your browser data, it's gone.
Note: we considered storing your favorite crossing against your IP address and decided against it. In Mexico, mobile carriers share one IP across thousands of users, so we'd be handing your preference to someone else — and it would mean storing personal data for no reason.
🆕 The times you send us
If you tap «In line» and then tell us how long it took, that does get stored on our server. It's the only thing on this site that does, and here is exactly what it is.
| What we store | Example |
|---|---|
| The crossing and the lane | San Ysidro · on foot |
| The time you got in line and the time you crossed | 7:14 am → 7:52 am |
| 🆕 And a fifth thing that does NOT come from your phone: ours | what CBP was saying at that hour — 45 min |
🔴 That fifth thing deserves its own paragraph, because it's different
Your phone sends us four things. The fifth one comes from our server: the number WE were publishing at the moment you got in line.
It doesn't come from your phone, it says nothing about you, and it was already public: it's the same number anyone could see on this page at that hour.
🔴 And without it, the promise above can't be kept. To tell you «CBP falls short by 22 minutes» you have to subtract two numbers: what they said and how long it actually took you. With only your time, that subtraction doesn't exist — and it can't be done afterwards: the moment you got in line happens once.
That's all. No name, no email, no phone, no account, no location. 🔴 We don't store your IP address with the report either. We don't need it for anything, and storing it would turn an anonymous reading into one that points at somebody.
What we want it for, plainly
CBP measures next to the booth, not where you actually line up. That's why their number tends to fall short — and nobody knows by how much, because nobody measures from the line.
🔴 You are standing right there. That's why the one number this site can't get from any public source is the one you can give us.
Once we have enough, this is where it will say something like: «on weekdays between 6 and 9 in the morning, add 22 minutes to what CBP says» — with the margin of error next to it and how many crossings back it up. 🔴 And until there are enough, we'll say there aren't enough — not half a number.
What we will NOT do with it
- ❌ We don't sell it, rent it or share it. Same as everything else on this page
- ❌ We won't track you across visits. Each report stands alone: there's no way to group yours
- ❌ We won't ask you for an account to report. One tap and you're done
- ❌ We won't send you notifications or email because you reported
If you change your mind
We can't delete one particular report of yours, and here's why: we don't store anything that tells us which one was yours. 🟢 That's the protection — the price is that neither you nor we can find it again.
If you tapped by accident, nothing happens: one odd crossing doesn't move the number, because we use the median, not the average.
The suggestion box
If you write to us:
- We store the text of your message and your email only if you provided it (it's optional).
- We use it only to read it and, if you left an email, to reply.
- We will not add you to any mailing list.
- We keep it one year, then it's deleted.
- If you want your message deleted sooner, write to us and we'll do it. You don't have to explain why.
Visits
We use Cloudflare Web Analytics to know how many people come and which pages they read.
🔴 It uses no cookies and doesn't track people across sites. That's why this site has none of that cookie banner everybody hates. It isn't an oversight: it's a decision, and we chose the tool specifically for that reason.
Donations
The "Buy us a coffee?" button sends you to PayPal or Mercado Pago. They process the payment under their own privacy rules.
🔴 We never see or store your card, your account or your payment details. They don't pass through here.
Advertising
Right now the ad spaces are empty or hold our own house ads.
When we start showing Google AdSense ads, that service may use cookies to choose which ad you see. When that happens we'll say so here and on the site — we're not going to change it silently. And you'll be able to configure it in Google's ad settings.
5 · Your rights
Under Mexican data protection law you can ask us to tell you, correct, delete or stop using any data of yours that we hold.
In practice: the only thing we could possibly have is a suggestion-box message with your email. Write to hola@buencruce.com and we'll sort it out. No forms, no process.
6 · The text, the data and the charts
- The raw data belongs to CBP and SANDAG and is public. It isn't ours and we don't claim it.
- The analysis, the articles and the charts are ours. You're free to quote and share them — we only ask that you say where they came from and include the link.
- If you find an error in our numbers, tell us. Errors people catch get published on our accuracy page, with credit if you want it.
7 · Changes to this notice
If this changes, the date at the top changes and anything important gets logged on the accuracy page. We are not going to edit this text silently.
Last updated: [DATE]