• Immigration agents conduct an operation at a car wash on Aug. 15 in Montebello. (Photo by Gregory Bull/Associated Press)

“Don’t worry,” said our guide. If you fly out of Terminal 1 at San Diego International Airport before Sept. 23 and return on that date or later, you won’t be in a space-time warp. Just the first to visit the new concourse.

“We have people here that will remind them they’re OK, they’re not in a different city,” said Angela Shafer-Payne. “They’re in San Diego. They’ve come back to San Diego.”

Shafer-Payne, chief development officer at the San Diego County Regional Airport Authority, led a media tour Tuesday of phase one of the “no comparison” New Terminal 1 Project, opening with 19 gates — with 11 more to come.

The day new T1 opens, final gear gets cleaned out of old

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