Is it really that easy to ilegally cross the border from Mexico to USA ?

[Scuba_Ben]

@Bogdan99

P.S. I am sorry if this thing was asked before, I can`t search the forum.If it was aked, could somebody please put a link? Thanks.

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[ChicanoRojo]

@Roog

I was wondering about that as well. As a Mexican citizen, you don’t need a visa to get into the US. Even if they stop you at the border, you simply say you’re going to visit your cousin. And if it doesn’t work the first time, try again the next day.

I am sorry. That may work with someone who has such a good command of English that she or he may BS himself/herself into the interview room and justify trying to enter the border without papers. If they are lucky, they will escorted to the Mexican side. Believe. Living in the border and having met countless undocumented immigrants, I have heard all the stories about entering the US. In the end, the best way to enter the US illegally is not by stating you have cousin in the US, but doing the old fashion way…cross the river, the desert, or get put on a trailer.

Any Mexican citizen attempting to enter the US must provide proper immigration/travel documentation in order to enter legally.

[ChicanoRojo]

@Muffin

Have things significantly changed there since then, or do large numbers of people simply walk back and forth across the border without being checked?

At least in this side of the Texas-Mexico border, US citizens can cross into Mexico without being asked for papers.

[Bogdan99]

@ severus

In Romania until 89, if you were spotted in the no mans land , the border soldiers had orders to shoot.Not to kill, but to shoot at the legs if possible.If they didn`t kill you and you were caught, you and your family would be in very big problems.Jail, then surveillance by the secret police, no job, no one would talk to you, etc.So basically your life would be over.
The problem with getting out of the country was not that other countries from West Europe would worry that you stayed too much there. It was the fact that only high-ranking officials and their families, along with selected Communist Party memebers , would get the passport.You see, to be issued a passport, you would sometimes wait 2 years, and after the trip you must give it back to the authorities, present a full report about your trip, where have you been exactly, who did you come in contact with, etc.

There were no visa restrictions for Romanian citizens, because there was almost no way that one could go to the West.And when they did ( a lot of them managed to run from the country, most of them by swimming across the Danube river into Yugoslavia ), they were granted political refugee status, without any questions asked.Illegal immigration was not an issue for Romanians at that time.

That Romanian co-worker of yours, if she was in Paris on a school trip, then she was a young one, and there were no concerns that she or other school students could stay in France.How can a small child make that decision?

So the US border forces don`t shoot at illegal crossers? I had the impression that they did - watching too many movies

[ChicanoRojo]

@Bogdan99

So the US border forces don`t shoot at illegal crossers? I had the impression that they did - watching too many movies

There is no legal reason to shoot an undocumented immigrant entering the US border. Unless there is real physical danger, the agent only has arrest the person and put them into the vehicle.

Again, having lived in the Texas-Mexico most of life (37 yrs), most border agents go rough on the “coyotes”. From talking acquaintances, once you pin point who is the smuggler, it easy to “round up” the undocumented immigrants. Put yourself in their place. If you enter a country you have no idea how to cross their desert or river, you will depend heavily on the smuggler who will be your guide. If s/he gets arrested, you either give in, get booked, get sent back, and try again or try to survive the desert. Most prefer getting caught.

[Shagnasty]

@Bogdan99

@ severus

In Romania until 89, if you were spotted in the no mans land , the border soldiers had orders to shoot.Not to kill, but to shoot at the legs if possible.If they didn`t kill you and you were caught, you and your family would be in very big problems.Jail, then surveillance by the secret police, no job, no one would talk to you, etc.So basically your life would be over.
The problem with getting out of the country was not that other countries from West Europe would worry that you stayed too much there. It was the fact that only high-ranking officials and their families, along with selected Communist Party memebers , would get the passport.You see, to be issued a passport, you would sometimes wait 2 years, and after the trip you must give it back to the authorities, present a full report about your trip, where have you been exactly, who did you come in contact with, etc.

While it sounds like a swell system on paper, I think you can see why some countries may be slow to adopt it for whatever reason.

In Soviet Romania, border makes a run for YOU!

[Bogdan99]

Swell system…yeah right

Also, Romania was not a soviet country, actually in a way we were enemies with the USSR, but basically it was the same s…t everywhere , from Czechoslovakia to North Korea.You couldn`t even eat without the government knowing and allowing it.

[Bogdan99]

But that`s not the issue on topic here. After all your responses I know what I wished from this thread.Thanks guys.

[Bogdan99]

Anyway, the problems of comunism are not on topic here, and I want to thank all of you who answered my question.

[Bogdan99]

Sorry for the above 2 posts that basically say the same thing.Because i am not a native speaker of English, sometimes I dont choose the right words to express what I want, and since I cant edit yet, I made 2 posts.

[UTEPMiners]

@Muffin

I’m curious as to what it is like at the El Paso – Juarez border these days.

In the 1980s, a friend and I were down that way. We left my car in El Paso and walked in a large crowd of people across the bridge over the Rio Grande into Juarez. There was no one in the Mexican kiosk as we entered Mexico.

Later that day we walked back into the USA, again in a large crowd of people. Although there were officers in the American kiosk, they were not stopping anyone.

While we were walking across the bridge on our return, we stopped to watch half a dozen people pull a raft down to the river from the Mexican side, and then leave it there as they walked across to the American side through the ankle deep water. There was a chain-link fence on the American side, so when they reached it, they turned around and re-crossed the river, climbed the bank, and joined the pedestrians walking across the bridge into the USA.

Have things significantly changed there since then, or do large numbers of people simply walk back and forth across the border without being checked?

I live in El Paso, so I cross the border with friends for the cheap drinks all the time. They need to see ID and they ask you what your citizenship is. Granted, we are all white, which has a HUGE effect on who they stop, even if they won’t admit it. I’ve had friends that have gotten stopped because they have an accent and are dark skinned.

It is still really easy to cross. They don’t really inspect the ids, just glance at them.

[Shagnasty]

@Bogdan99

Sorry for the above 2 posts that basically say the same thing.Because i am not a native speaker of English, sometimes I dont choose the right words to express what I want, and since I cant edit yet, I made 2 posts.

You seem to do fine with English. Some of our native speakers should do so well. There is an ongoing (not very good) joke around here that whenever someone mentions a problem with communism, we give a joke like “In Soviet Russia ____ does ____”. It started with a Russian comedian in the 1980’s. A basic version is “In Soviet Russia, TV watches YOU!”

If you want some good attention, you should start an “Ask the ____” thread in another forum. A former Cuban did that a few weeks ago and it was very interesting for everyone.

[Muffin]

Thanks, UTEPMiners.

[Hypnagogic_Jerk]

@Bogdan99

In Romania until 89, if you were spotted in the no mans land , the border soldiers had orders to shoot.Not to kill, but to shoot at the legs if possible.If they didn`t kill you and you were caught, you and your family would be in very big problems.Jail, then surveillance by the secret police, no job, no one would talk to you, etc.So basically your life would be over.

Fair enough, I assumed it would be something like that.

That Romanian co-worker of yours, if she was in Paris on a school trip, then she was a young one, and there were no concerns that she or other school students could stay in France.How can a small child make that decision?

I believe she was a teenager. I don’t remember the exact specifics, though.

[Balthisar]

Mexico has a free zone along the border, all of Baja California, and now on the Sonora coast down to Empalme. The “real” customs and immigration are at this interior border. There’s not really anything you have to do to enter the Mexican free zone, other than stop and get your papers if you’re going beyond the free zone. In Laredo (Nuevo Laredo), the free zone’s about 15 KM away from the border crossing, but you have to stop and get your papers right there in town. In Nogales, the documentation station was at KM 20 towards Hermosillo, right at the interior border. Now that the free zone goes all the way to Empalme, I don’t know where you stop – maybe in Nogales, or maybe there’s no documentation until you get to Empalme, or maybe it’s still at KM 20. You just have to figure it out before you go.

Before I knew about this free zone, I travelled via air from León to Cd. Juarez (near El Paso). I had no friggin’ idea that I had to clear customs again to return to León as well as get another visitor card (didn’t have my FM-3 then). It was just a damn lucky thing that I had my passport with me (instinct was to leave it in León), else I’d’ve been stuck outside of the USA and outside of Mexico proper in a kind of no-man’s land!

[TJVM]

When comparing the Mexican and Canadian borders, bear in mind that the magnitude of the security problem stems not only from the difficulty of crossing the border, but the motivation to do so. The US and Mexico have one of the largest income gaps in the world between adjoining countries – a strong incentive for Mexicans to come work in the US. With Canada, you don’t have that issue.

While it sounds like a swell system on paper, I think you can see why some countries may be slow to adopt it for whatever reason.

I actually LOL’d at that.