Illegal aliens severely punished: 20 dollar fine
“Peter” in Morelia, recently had some dazed and confused visitors, who entered Mexico without papers:
I just had some visitors from the US … a bit naive about crossing the border and what is required to do so.
The … gringo friend ended up here in Michoacán without an FMT …
… As it turned out the airline in Morelia asked for his FMT and he paid $515mx for not having it. That is not a terrible fine but still about twice the cost of an FMT.
Well, yeah. Entering a country without obtaining a visa is known in some quarters as being an “illegal alien”. It’s a good thing it wasn’t the other way around, or the guy could have ended up in a prison camp… or dead. And, even if you have a visa, coming from Mexico to the United States, you might be detained for no reason at all.
Consider the plight of Gustavo de la Rosa Hickerson, who works in Juarez for the Chihuahua State Human Rights Commission, and receives death threats regularly. De la Rosa — like a lot of our snowbirds and “permanent” residents — doesn’t really live on the other side of the border, but legally goes back and forth. However, for no particular reason anyone can fathom, he was detained for seeking political asylum (which he never requested)!
I don’t think “Peter”‘s guest is complaining about his 515 peso fine (which, minus the 20 or so dollars a tourist visa costs, works out to about a 20 dollar fine. At least I hope the guy isn’t complaining, and I hope he lets everyone know that civilized countries don’t jail people for illegal entry… at most they give them a reasonable fine.
The Mex Files 
I did the same thing about ten years ago. I flew from the DF to Tijuana to take a bus to SF (much cheaper to fly inside Mexico than internationally). The Mexican border guys gave me a huge hassle, but due to the fact I was COMPLETELY broke, after several minutes of apologizing, they let me through!
I am wondering what happens to me the next time I go to Mexico, as I didn’t get an exit stamp last year when I crossed the border to Guatemala. (Yes, I was/am an idiot.)
There is a lot of hypocrisy regards illegal immigration. If the Mexican government spoke up as loudly for the Latin Americans entering Mexico as loudly as they do Mexicans entering the US….
Won’t happen, of course. Not in the foreseeable anyway.