i went to cabo for 5 days in october 2015. i am a life registerant in CA from a misdemeanor charge of 288a(b)(1). i wonder if i went into the country undetected? was it because it was only a misdemeanor? i dont know but i was never stopped in mexico. on the way back into the usa at immigration i was pulled aside. waited 20-30 minutes and was free to go because they just needed to see if “everything was in order.” that was it…
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I find this to be really interesting. I, too, am a registrant from CA with a single misdemeanor charge. No other criminal history…just that single count.
May, 2013, my wife and I spent a week in Cabo. We got off the plane, and proceeded to immigration. The agent scanned my passport, spent a minute or so looking at his screen, and then called another officer, who took me to a little room off to the side. He spent about 15 minutes asking me questions about my trip into Mexico, and copied all of the paperwork associated with my trip. He specifically stated that CBP had “flagged” my passport. This was made more interesting by the fact that CA does not have the 21 day advance notice rule. Therefore, the only heads up CBP had was the 24 hours prior to my departure, when I had to enter my passport info onto Alaska Airline’s system when checking in for my flight.
Either way, Mexico did let me know, but it was not without its hassle. About 6 months later is when posts started popping up here about people who were immediately pulled off the plane the moment it docked at the gate.
Glad you were admitted! Cabo is a great place to visit!
Something tells me that if you made that same trip today you’d probably get turned around. I believe you’d be in the system now. I dont know, but good on you..
Any future experiences you may have would be of interest!
I suspect they were adding information about you into their database to make sure you will not be able to make that trip back.
As your experience was in May 2013 I can assure you with 99.9% confidence that you would NOT be treated the same if you tried that same trip today in 2016. I can also tell you that your passport was flagged when you boarded the flight. It is really a simple procedure as your name, social security number and passport number all they need and these databases have been sharing data for all the years since you made it through.
I flew into Cabo march 2014 and I was let in with no problems. I live in a Sorna state but I didn’t notify anyone in advance of my travels or even tell the authorities for that matter. Yes I was detained at the airport when I returned for a few minutes while my luggage was searched.
When I traveled to the Dominican Republic the next year I also didn’t inform the authorities of my travel and there were no guards waiting for me when the plane landed but when my passport was scanned I taking into a backroom and immediately put back on the next plane, My luggage was also completely ransacked and arrived a few days after I returned home(coincidence)?
I feel that from reading the stories on here and from what Paul and David said, You most likely did get lucky and they probably had not added you into the system for various reasons and i’m sure if you flew again you wouldn’t be as lucky.
But I’m glad you were able to enjoy your vacation in Cabo. i really enjoyed the place and would love to go back, but obviously won’t take that chance again.
I wonder how you would fair if you traveled again to Cabo.
So is it a matter of visiting the same country twice? I have traveled to mexico (PV)several months ago w no prior notice, italy (connection in france)with notice, and just recently aruba a couple weeks ago w no notice and no issues getting into any country. i of course do get hassled each time i get back home. usually 30-60 min of questioning and searching my luggage. what ive just learned about IML i will now give heads up to the cops each time. has anyone ever gotten admitted or tried to go to canada?
I’ve been on several cruises (we go on one every year, my most recent just in March 2015) into different countries and have never been detained once upon disembarking the ship into the visiting country. I’ve been to Cabo San Lucas Mexico, Ensenada Mexico, Cozumel Mexico, Falmouth Jamaica, Labadee Haiti, Puerto Vallerta…It seems that traveling by ship might be different? They even scanned my passport each time we got off the ship into the visiting countries on last year’s cruise, yet I didn’t have one issue. Of course, I’ve not gone in about a year, so it may yield different results as of today.
I do get detained upon completion of the cruise while going through customs in the US though…each and every time! Most incidences are degrading and time consuming. This started about 5 years ago, that I started getting detained upon entering back into the US. Almost every time, I’m brought into a separate room, where they rummage through my luggage, ask me if I have any pornography, ask if I had any relations with minors or solicit sex of any minors, and basically interrogate me until they finally figure out that I was just on a regular vacation with my family and have done nothing wrong. (My wife and son have been with me each and every time)
My crime was a misdemeanor back in 1998. My sentence was 3 years formal probation, for which I completed, incident free. I’ve never reoffended nor had any offense beforehand. I’m not listed on the Internet, as I fall into the excluded category. My crime had nothing to do with trafficking or pornography or anything that they are looking for when I’m interrogated.
The whole thing seems like a violation of your rights, as I’m not on any kind of probation and shouldn’t be subject to being searched the way they do. It’s a complete joke and it’s led me to not book my annual cruise for this year, as I’m tired of being humiliated in front of my wife and son.
In any case, I wanted to share my experiences, since it seems I’ve been one of the “lucky” ones to actually get to complete my vacations, despite having to endure the humiliation that the US puts me through upon returning.
I’m wondering if they are targeting everyone? I had a misdemeanor battery (non child related/summary probation) and I’ve had no issues? (Don’t come back pretending your a lawyer and stating something you believe is true/is there anything documented online?). Thanks
OMG, you guys are something else. From what I’ve read, you guys have a control issue and it doesn’t sound like you want to be wrong or questioned. Best of luck. I’m not answering your questions and you don’t speak for us. You keep writing “we”.