SAN DIEGO -- All pedestrians entering California from Mexico will soon be required to show photo identification so they can be checked in a national law enforcement database, a move that is likely to result in further delays at border crossings.

BORDER TRAFFIC Check delays at the Calif.-Mexico border Check San Diego traffic

Within days, the U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service and Customs Service plans to begin asking pedestrians to produce photo identifications at border crossings in California and Arizona, agency spokeswoman Virginia Kice said.

Authorities recently began requiring photo IDs from pedestrians crossing the border in Texas and New Mexico.

The requirement to show ID will allow inspectors to check for criminal warrants as part of heightened security following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Kice said.

"I think everybody appreciates the need for security," she said.

Since the Sept. 11 attacks, inspectors have been requiring more pedestrian border crossers to show photo ID so they can be checked in an electronic law enforcement database.

Previously, only non-citizens were required to show identification.

Inspectors had typically asked people to state their citizenship and allow most U.S. citizens to pass through without showing any documentation to reduce the long lines that form at border crossings.

Those checks will now be expanded to include all pedestrians and there are likely to be increased delays as inspectors type names and dates of birth into the database, Kice said.

The INS and Customs are still finalizing some details of the effort and haven't decided whether pedestrians will face penalties if they do not carry photo identification.

There are no plans to require photo identification of northbound motorists at the border, but the auto inspection lanes already use digital license plate readers to determine whether the car is stolen and when it entered Mexico.