Travel to Mexico

[bullfrog !]

Some border crossings into Mexico are beginning to enforce Mexican immigration requirements which includes official forms and fees. Be prepared as border officials are intermittently enforcing them causing wait times of up to 4 hours to cross.

 

[maki2]

I just heard about that yesterday in camp via the grapevine. It sounds like they did that for a few days at the walk in Andrade crossing into Los Algodones. I am not sure where one could go on the internet to see real time news for walking heading into Mexico. They USA Border Authorities post wait times for driving back into the USA but nothing about walking back and also no wait times going into Mexico. That would be from a website from the Mexican government as it is their employees controlling the inspections for driving and walking in. I would have to use a translator to find that link from Mexico authorities.. if there even is one that stays current.

 

[eDJ_]

Could this source be of benefit ? It is searchable.

US Ebmassy and Counulates in Mexico Alerts Archive

Travel.State.Gov

 

[Morgana]

That is mostly for safety warnings, eDJ, as far as I know.
I had a look and could find surprisingly little, even in Spanish, for wait times north to south/as affected by Mexican customs actions. Almost everything I found, in Spanish or English, was drawing from the CBP website/app (https://bwt.cbp.gov/), which show only times coming back into the US.
If somebody really needs this info, bad enough to look hard for it, you might have some luck with
(1) Facebook groups,
(2) Google search specifying News and Tools>Recent>24 hours (or whatever time frame you want),
(3) maybe webcams for specific crossing points.
Especially for Facebook you might search on the destination in Mexico (eg Algodones, Baja California, Rocky Point) because there are probably groups for US people who visit those places regularly.

 

[bullfrog !]

I saw the initial story on a Tucson local TV station. A couple had driven 3 1/2 hours to get dental work done and had their passports but ran into a 4 hour wait because of paperwork you can get online filled out and they said a $30 fee to process. As they would miss their appointments they went home. The next day their neighbor downloaded the paperwork and filled it out but when they got to the border no one asked for it. With border relations in flux allowing some extra time would be prudent. Dual citizenship holders had no delays that day as well. The TV station had contacted the authorities but got no response.

 

[maki2]

Could this source be of benefit ? It is searchable.

US Ebmassy and Counulates in Mexico Alerts Archive

Travel.State.Gov

No that site does not seem to be at all related to walking into Mexico for the day and going through checkpoints requiring presentation of citizenship papers and asking for purpose and length of visits. That website seems to be more for traveler alerts regarding dangerous situations.

When living in Washington state I traveled many times into British Columbia. I was always stopped at the entry by the Canadians and had to present ID and questioned about the purpose of my visit and length of time I would be there. But I never walked into Canada, it was either drive in by car or arriving by a marine transport. So it always seemed a bit strange to me to be able to cross into
Mexico on foot without needing to present ID. But I like the ease of doing so versus the long lines to get back into the USA.

 

[Morgana]

I'm pretty sure I've crossed into Canada without having to show ID, also that it's possible to cross by foot in some places.
At the Mexican border, even in a car, in the last year or so (before this current situation), I've usually gotten through in <5 minutes but have occasionally gotten the fine-tooth comb.

These things tend to fluctuate over time and vary from one crossing to the next. They can be influenced by anything from the whim of the individual guard (as Miss Tact here found out when insufficiently suppressing an eye roll while talking to tetchy US guard) to, I assume, instructions from the head office.

Around 2010-ish I used to love the Columbus-to-Palomas crossing because it was so simple and easy. One time I got there just as the school bus bringing dual-nationality kids back from school in Deming let out a mob of adorables who ran for their moms waiting on the Mexican side. It also had a not very picturesque but weirdly touching highway shrine on the US side. Now there's a huge new building and fancier gate where I tend to get lost on the way back and have to be redirected by Mexican soldiers. The shrine is still there but IIRC harder to access.

Time marches on! Let's hope this current situation doesn't become the new normal. More likely to be just another spasm, I think/hope. When the border closed briefly at Lukeville a couple years ago, local businesses were really hurting. And it's got to be a pain for people doing medical/dental tourism as Bullfrog mentioned.