What is it like crossing Tijuana border on foot?

I understand I don't need my passport to cross into America until 2008. Do the officials still ask for the passport? Do they get suspicious if you don't produce it? How many questions do they typically ask? Do they usually ask for the birth certificate? Do they routinely search bags? I understand it use to be easy to cross with a drivers license. Thank you.

I cross the border in Texas every day by car. However I live in Mexico and work in the US and I tell them that in response to the usual questions about what I was doing in Mexico and where I am going. Occasionally I am asked to produce some identification and a drivers license is good enough. If I have my passport with me, I give them that.

However crossing on foot with luggage is not the norm. You are probably going to be asked more specific questions about your trip. There is a very good chance they will want to see more than a DL and that your bags will be searched. Don't bring any Cuban stuff back with you and dispose of your used airline tickets or any other documents that could connect you with Cuba.

I crossed on foot at Piedras Negras/Eagle Pass with luggage after a trip to Coahuila and gave them my passport. The officer examined it very closely and commented on the number of old Cancun stamps, as well as the numerous Cuban bank stamps on pg. 16. He didn't know what they were and I said I didn't either. Just so you know Cuba has not stamped passports for the past 4 years.

I crossed the border on foot in TJ about a year or so ago and what the asked me was; "Are bringing any alcohol, medicine, which part of Mexico did you go?.

They ask for a valid identification,passport, DL, arm forces ID, ect.

I would try to limit my luggage to a backpack so I appear like a day tourist. I'd rather not present my passport but could present birth certificate/drivers license.

There is no reason they will suspect you have been to Cuba, but you will probably be asked where you went in Mexico, how long you were there and if you are bringing anything back. The less baggage you have the easier it will be. You may just be waved through without having to show anything after declaring your citizenship or you may be questioned in detail about your trip and searched. As I said, I cross everyday and the routine is never exactly the same.

But keep your luggage to a minimum and have a simple story down about where you went. The key is to not have anything in your bags or on your person that can link you to Cuba.

These days they're checking ID and asking your citizenship. A driver's license is usually sufficient, and it should be ready to show them. If you're not an American citizen, they will ask for some other type of traveling visa or whatever you have. Luggage is not a problem - they may ask you to open it and check it, but would be very cursory. There is also an x-ray machine that you'd have to put any bags, sacks, purses or luggage through. Not too many questions these days unless you're different from the norm. Most times they don't even ask the walk-across people what they've brought back.

You make it sound as if you think you need to "sneak through" ...

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<hr>so I appear like a day tourist. I'd rather not present my passport<hr></blockquote>

For whatever reason, you don't want to show your passport... to the Mexicans? or to the U.S.? I can't think of any reason to be reluctant to show it to the Mexicans. They don't care if you've been in some country not recognized by the U.S. (Cuba being the most common). Why would Aduana care if you come across with boxes or a backpack or a suitcase? As long as you have a legitimate reason to enter the country, and pay the tourist fee (and aren't smuggling guns or currency) they're usually not too concerned.

They have sometimes asked where I've planned to stay and I just say friends in Mexico City.

OK... I get it. You've been to Cuba. But why did you get your passport stamped? The Cubans don't require it. Rumor has it that the Department of Homeland Security monitors this site and has a list of all handles and their real identities. But given the thousands of Americans who visit Cuba hardly anyone is ever hassled. Usually folks who make a big deal about it.

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<hr>Rumor has it that the Department of Homeland Security monitors this site and has a list of all handles and their real identities. <hr></blockquote>

And here I thought Bob was under contract to do that for Halliburton :-)

No connection. We only bank on the same island.

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<hr>OK... I get it. You've been to Cuba. But why did you get your passport stamped?<hr></blockquote>
The passport problem for people flying back to the border to cross by land after an unlicensed trip to Cuba is having a same day Mexican entry stamp from Cancun. In the unlikely event a BHS officer examined the passport closely at the Tijuana crossing that might be hard to explain.

#10.. good point. But.. if you are an American citizen they have to let you back in. If you lie about going to Cuba..then they could do something...if they can prove it. Are they going to go to the hassle? If it's obvious you are a tourist..doubt it. Simple say I decline to answer. It's something called the 5th amendment. It and the 1st and 2nd are still there despite all attempts by the federal government to erase them. Back when I first went to Cuba there weren't this web of currency regulations. It was simply a felony. Coming back via Mexico..oh...and I had a Cuban stamp. US Immigration asked if I'd been anywhere but Mexico. I said Cuba. No questions no comments.

No offense Bob, but this is a weekly--if not daily---topic on the Cuba branch. The OFAC will most definately charge a tourist who travels to Cuba without a license with a civil violation of the Cuban travel/trade restrictions if they catch them. Enforcement is not proactive, but the number of violations being processed is up significantly under this administration. The travel/trade restrictions have withstood several constitutional challenges over the years.

Ok, I work in Mexico and live in both countries. You walk across with the masses, show your driver license and then they make you put your bag or bags through the X ray. I had 2 bottles or 3 of tequila in my bag and the guy said no and then i said I was travelling with a friend and they said ok.

One time a driver license wasn´t good enough. My girlfriend at the time was from Colombia and didn´t speak much English but had residency in the US, they asked to see her permanent resident card.

Tijuana crossing is easy. I usually got asked alot of questions crossing in Mexicali as I was tall and have blue eyes and everyone else is short and has dark eyes so i stand out in that crowd. One time the guy raised his voice and snapped... What are you bringing in the US?? I said dirty laundry and he said you can go.

This thread is about making an unlicensed trip to Cuba and attempting to avoid being charged with a violation of the Cuban travel/trade restrictions by crossing back to the US by land from Mexico. There is a concern that if the passport has to be shown (as is now the case for someone returning by air) and is closely examined that it will reveal a trip to a third country that is not reflected in the passport. Assuming the unlicensed traveller is returning from Cuba that day, the passport will have an entry stamp from Cancun dated that same day.

My girlfriend is from a 3rd World Country and so I'm reluctant to go thru the paperwork for her to visit the us as a tourist, my idea is to travel by bus from Guadalahara to TJ and then walk across the border 2 CA, she speaks english very well so I'm thinking it wouldn't be a problem if she said she's american,
From anyone's knowledge here, do the borderagents ask to see ALL id's from everyperson walking across to CA??
I thought it wasn't required until Jan 08 that all us citizens entering d us must have proper ids,
If we are both together and we both say were american then what would happen? Maybe or maybe not be asked to show id?

Thank you, RR

#15- What sort of ID is your girlfriend going to produce?

rodeorowdy- think about it

Getting to seize an attractive young female ( and her companion) for immigration fraud would be the highlight of the border control agent's week. Lots of unpleasant times for the both of you, separated of course, in one of the small hot rooms they have to hold deportees. And then, as Bob mentions, then there is the much less civil attitude of the Mexican immigration police. Whatever cash the two of you would have, would mysteriously appear as a "fine" to be paid. And then you get to visit TJ's finest little prison. Nasty.

Thank you all for your time posting here, I do appreciate it, I was thinking she would not even have to show ID if she just said "US" as we both walked thru the gate together,

My other idea was to fine a quiet area to cross the border, I could have someone leave a car I rented for me in the area I intended to cross, My gosh, millions of people have done it and they don't have any assistance on the other side like I do,

Your words here have scared me, more for what would happen to my wife,

I keep hearing/reading about the 12 million illegals in the US and just today I read on cnn,com that they estimate it would be more than $97 billion to deport them all (if they even could) so as a US citizen, I wonder why my wife can't be in the US too (without having to deal with all the paperwork, high cost's & government red-tape)?

That's why I was naive enough to think that they would just kick us back and that would be that, we'd still be together, I didn't even think about the mexican police being involved, I had just never heard about the bad things that could happen, until now that is

This mexican border idea is no more, Maybe I'll see if she could get a visa for Canada, My Aunt is a citizen there,

Thank you all again,

rr