Mexican Immigration

Danna and I took a trip to immigration to "finalize" our FM3 Mexican Work Permits with Ana Lucia, an office staff member from our school.

This was our second attempt; the first time, we stopped to deposit money in the bank - apparently, a requirement before heading to immigration. The line was so long at the bank that by the time Ana Lucia deposited the money, the immigration office had closed. A handful of us from school spent the time at the coffee shop in the mall which was enjoyable, but we were excited to get our work permits so we could open bank account.

Finally, the day was here to try again. We arrived and walked through the gate to find an outdoor cage of sorts, actually worse than something you'd see at a zoo, filled with about 30 illegal aliens and only half the size of my living room. It was 95 F (35 C) and the sun was beating into the cage. Most of the guys had their shirts off and I wondered how long they had been in there.

Ana Lucia told us that a pregnant woman had been in there before - unimaginable. I asked the official inside how long they had to stay in there and he said until they had enough people to fill a bus that would haul them south to Tapachula (the border city I recently visited and stayed with the Mexican counterpart's family), where they have the largest immigration office in all of Latin America. He assured me that this happens daily, but I'm skeptical.

When asked from what countries the illegals are, he said typically Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras, but occasionally they get a strange one, like the guy from Nepal or from Ethiopia, both of whom they flew gratis back to their country. I mentioned that I'd like a free trip home to visit my parents and he said for Americans, the family is contacted in the States and you aren't released until they pay for you to return. Good try.

I'd like to think that if such inhumane treatment occurred in the States, people would freak out. How ironic that it occurs in Mexico when such a stink is made by the illegal Mexicans in the States over the treatment of illegals crossing US borders.

I wish they'd make an equal stink in Mexico about the way the illegals are treated here because it's an inhumane sight. Before too many people hop on that bandwagon, let's realize that the people coming over the border from Guatemala into Mexico are headed for the States, not here to stay in Mexico. Most likely, the States supports their methods, as long as they're effective.

To make my blog more interesting, I attempted to take a photo of the caged illegals from inside the office thinking they couldn't see me through the tinted glass. Unfortunately the officials standing guard could and they immediately approached the immigration office.

I decided to surrender and opened the door well before they reached me to apologize and show them that I was deleting the photos. My description will have to suffice.

The process once inside was very fast and easy - pleasantly unexpected. One nice looking guy filled out an online application, listing my information, some of it very strange. The first question was whether or not I used depilacion on my cejas. I recognized this as waxing my eyebrows and thought I had definitely misunderstood, but I hadn't. I laughed wondering how that type of information could be helpful.

We completed the rest of the form stating that I'm 1.7 meters tall, have an oval chin (how many chin descriptions are there??), one tatoo or tatuaje of a small fish on my hip (which I showed him and Ana Lucia and I later joked with another officer that it's odd that we have to show our tattoos to which the embarrassed official quickly responded that he hadn't asked), among other things.

At the very end, we learned that we wouldn't be getting our green work permit books until Friday because they had to finish "processing" them. I believe this means they have to paste a photo inside and staple a few things into place. This clearly couldn't be done while we were there and another trip was necessary...manana, manana.