My ability to prove to them that I was not coming as a prostitute or whatever nefarious motive they suspected was unsuccessful.
In their minds, I’m sure I already met all of the stereotypes and assumptions that they had from the second I handed over my passport at immigration. In hindsight, I should have printed out a bank account balance to demonstrate I had the funds to go on this trip. I had brought very little cash as I had debit and credit cards I could use to withdraw and spend money. This was met with apathy and lack of concern. My answer was the truth that I had the photo backed up but could not access it without the internet. He asked me about this same picture repeatedly. To find the photo, I needed the Internet but there was none made available to us and they did not care that it could provide evidence to my story. This was the first time meeting under the intention of dating therefore we did not have much else capable of showing our new relationship. Considering that my boyfriend has lived in America since we first met, we only have one photo in person together dating back to 2019.
It was not comfortable to have to resort to showing a stranger our intimate messages over Instagram but it was the only physical evidence that I could show the officer as we hadn’t met in person since 2019. I pleaded with the officer that my boyfriend was still waiting for me in the airport and that I could contact him to confirm our plans. We were both on the booking and continued to try to prove that I was indeed meeting up with a boyfriend. We had booked accommodation for a month through AirBnb in Mexico City which I showed to the immigration officer. They gave it back for me to show them proof that I was indeed a legitimate tourist rather than having the ulterior motives they suspected. I was given back my phone but still there was no WiFi or another way of contacting the outside world. I can be kept in the detention room (prison would be a better word here) without my belongings for as long as it takes for the airline to find me a seat for a ticket back.Īfter a very long wait, I was taken to a small private room with another immigration officer. My documents and my mobile phone would be confiscated from me I can be treated as a guilty criminal unless I can prove otherwise in the interview My attempt to enter Mexico may be declined Needed to bring a reasonable amount of physical cash with me There is a large chance that I’ll be asked for an interview (interrogation would be a more appropriate word) with an immigration officer, who is not as versed in English considering the quantity of tourists coming from around the world Įverything needs to be printed out or at least saved as a PDF/screenshot Solo travelers (especially female) raise more questions I need return tickets or tickets to my next destination (yet, these did not prevent others from being deported as well) The ‘travelling with an American boyfriend’ phrase is a mistake by itself as it’s often used by those who have a very different purpose than tourism Women from countries such as Ukraine and many neighbouring countries are known for coming to Mexico for escort/prostitution services There are schemes for migrating to the US through Mexico I was immensely excited about going to Latin America for the first time and seeing my boyfriend in that setting with an exact itinerary would only inhibit the nature of how we wanted to travel.īecause of the above, I didn’t know that: With the perception of being friendly to tourists and having met many other travellers in the past who had similar plans to travel overland from all regions of the world never hearing of the treatment I was to endure. We didn’t check travel tips for Mexico as he had been twice before with little scrutiny upon arrival.
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