I agree with ER that the “system” is broken in MX and has been for a VERY long time.

However, I agree with davelj in that I know several Americans (NOT Mexican or of Mexican descent) that possess “Sentri Passes” who have been crossing the border 1-5 times per week with no incident for YEARS. They live on one side of the border … or both (they have a “vacation home” and/or “business” in Baja … no, folks, it’s NOT drug trafficking).

I agree that if you mind your own biz, speak Spanish passably and/or perhaps have a Mexican spouse, child, relative or friend with you who is FROM Baja, CA, then this category of Americans has less chance of being victimized.

In desmond’s video, the family was hauling a flashy fifth-wheel trailer. I only watched a few minutes of it but in the comments section, the first comment was that the family was driving a former Baja racecar trailer previously owned by the (very locally prominent) McMillin’s (of McMillin Development and Realty – HQ’d in Nat’l City, CA) with the name obliterated. I took a close look at it on the video, all the while knowing and remembering the particular nearby acreage where the family stores their racecar trailers. It is likely true that it was a former McMillin trailer which is a “red flag” to thugs “pretending” to be “law enforcement” who believe they will get to “steal” a racecar worth hundreds of thousand of dollars if they can frighten the driver and passengers enough to detain them and possibly “carjack” them. Ask yourselves where the scrapped law enforcement vehicles from CA agencies end up. You guessed it. Wrecking yards in Otay Mesa (SD), CA, where they are first stripped of their CA gov’t plate and then bought up at auction by the dozens by Mexicans who take them across the border. I know because I myself bought a Honda Prelude at one of said auctions back in the day for $700 – yes, running. Only a fraction of these partially-painted-over former US law-enforcement vehicles end up in the hands of legitimate law enforcement agencies down there. Hence, you have your “fake cops” pulling over “flashy” Americans down there.

I myself have not been to MX since before 9/11 (when border security was tightened up and an American needed documents to return to the US). In the eighties I went several times per month and have even traveled by car hundreds of miles beyond Ensenada. I let my passport expire and would have to renew it to obtain a Sentri Pass and/or travel abroad. I have no desire to do either at present.

My advice is to buy a Ford 150 pickup stateside, the older the better and if it doesn’t have any bondo on it, put some on it somewhere. Put a couple of Mexican blankets on the bench seat and a towel over the cracked dash and use it for all your Mexican forays and camping trips which are within 150 miles of the int’l border. I don’t care WHAT you see Mexican Nationals wearing down there … DITCH the designer clothes, handbags and jewelry and just hang out in Levis, shorts and flip flops or tennis shoes. Bring only ONE credit card in your shoe or belt and store additional cash in your belt or sock.

A Mexican resort 2500 miles away and reached by air is a different story. Follow your travel agent’s advice about where to stay and where to go and don’t rent a car. Walk to recommended establishments near your hotel. If you will be visiting Las Pyramides or other rural attraction out on lonely roads, go with a bus of Americans which was booked by a US-based travel agent.