Immigration check!!!!! Welcome to Arizona, DF

"Mis papeles? Porque?"

The response was too fast for my emerging Spanish skills, but I caught the word "pasaporte."

"No tengo mi pasaporte."

Then he switched to bad English, asking for some ID. I noticed the writing on his shirt, which included the word immigration, so I gave him my driver's license from British Columbia. He told me to wait, took out a cell phone, and stepped away.

There were about 10 of them, all wearing the same black polo shirts with the immigration inscription. A young, put-out looking American in a suit was also stopped by them. The man returned with my ID, asking me (in Spanish again) how long I'd been here, where I lived, and where my passport was. I told him: one and a half months, in Toluca, and in Toluca. He stepped away again, still on the cell phone.

A young lady approached and asked me, in good English, "So you've been here for 6 months, and you don't have your passport?"

"No," I calmly explained, "one and a half months." I also explained my situation - that I was just coming to DF for the weekend, that I lived in Toluca, that my passport was there, and that I didn't carry my passport on me all the time.

'They should tell you at the airport,' she explained. 'Mexican law states that you must have your passport and tourist card (the paper they give you at the airport) with you at all times.'

'I had no idea.'

She told me that they would try to find me in the computer. Before I could explain that although my ID was Canadian, my passport was from the US, she said that some people were being very rude to them.

'Because you don't have your passport with you, I could take you to the immigration jail right now.'

'What would happen then?'

'Someone would have to bring your passport there.'

I imagined calling my girlfriend from the immigration jail, asking her to go to my apartment where she would have to convince my landlady to let her in, and then bussing to the immigration jail, wherever it is in DF. Not to mention the unknown horrors of the immigration jail itself. It isn't good to be an American in those places, I'm sure.

'But because you're being nice, we can work this out here.'

I didn't realize I was being nice, and I was bracing for the bribe request, but then she continued.

'Like him,' she indicated the American in the suit. 'We're going to take him in. Americans are so rude.'

'Well, you're just doing your job.'

We chatted a little more, about her former boyfriend from New Zealand, and how that next time I would be sure to have my passport. She told me that copies would be ok. All the while they stopped every Caucasian who passed and one Asian. They all must have had passports because they moved along quickly.

The first officer came back and said they couldn't find me, so I had to explain that I and my passport were American. The poor girl turned bright red and apologized, and I told her that I understood (which I do). I was worried that this confusing fact about my status might earn me a trip to the jail, but they found my file in the computer.

'You've been here six months,' she said. 'So you have to update your status right away.'

'No, really, I have just been here a month and a half. 6 months ago I came for one month. That was the last time I came. I came and I left.'

'Well, you can go.'

All in all this took about half an hour. The American was still standing there, looking angry, and I had noticed that he had provided them with a copy of his passport.

Now, it seems to me that this must be a reaction to the Arizona law, about which the Mexicans are pissed off, and rightly so, in my opinion. Of course there are illegal Americans in Mexico, and I'm sure that the gov't would be happy to find some and deport them publicly. But what about the irony that the contentious nature of the Arizona law, that immigrants must always carry their papers, is apparently the same in Mexico?

So for expats in Mexico, make a copy of your passport and tourist card and keep it in your wallet, and don't get mad when you get stopped. As you know, in Mexico the police and military can and will search you at any time. It's not like in the US or Canada, where you can refuse, claiming your rights. You have to keep calm and polite. And for those of you who have overstayed your time (6 months), time to take a bus trip to Guatemala and back.