Border wait times affected as a result of global IT outage

SAN DIEGO (KGTV) — On Friday morning, there was a miles-long backup in Tijuana as cars and pedestrians tried to make their way across the border to San Diego for work, school, or shopping.

Customs and Border Protection was just one of the thousands of agencies worldwide impacted by the massive IT outage. A CBP spokesperson told ABC 10News that they were experiencing processing delays, leading to longer-than-normal wait times at the ports of entry.

Travelers in San Ysidro told ABC 10News it took them hours to cross and said their commute time doubled or even tripled.

"Even at my job, there were complications in the computers, in the cashiers and everything," said Alexandra Gonzales, who crossed on Friday.

Another man said he heard about the issue and went home for a few hours before deciding to try again.

Cross-border traffic due to the outage also affected MTS. The organization shared a message on X, saying some of its staff was experiencing major delays getting across the border to come to work.

MTS said riders can check delays or detours on their website; trolley service was not affected.

The outage was caused by a faulty update for computers running Microsoft Windows by Crowdstrike, a cyber security technology firm.

Its CEO says a fix has already been deployed.