Another tale from my past. I was a missionary. I did many things in trucks - that - probably weren't really the smartest thing to do.
One of them was to cross from the U.S. into Mexico the "back way".
It just happened one day - somebody came back to our yard and said they had found a back way into Mexico. Nobody bothered them going in there and they freely accessed the city of Juarez.
So began our frequent use of this back way.
It wasn't meant as a way to avert the border officials - it was meant as a way to save an hour and a half of driving over to the nearest border crossing, get into Mexico, and then start maneuvering through the spaghetti of streets to get to where we were going.

So - I started using this back way.
Let me preface this by adding another thought: U.S. Border Patrol/INS at the entry to the U.S. from Mexico was TERRIBLE. They acted like GODS. They were very condescending, rude, arrogant, even belligerent. I encountered them on a daily basis. We were going in and out of there so frequently - they had our license numbers on their computers, they knew who I was - personally - as I was going into Mexico at the time at least 5 days a week. I saw the same people several times over.

I HATED their attitude. To the point that when they asked me what my citizenship was, I would first ask what THEIRS was.

To be honest, we only went IN that way (: the back way, that is ), we always came OUT through the legal way. Coming into the U.S. like that and getting caught will get you into a heap of trouble, even back then.

There was a caveat to this entry we were using, well a couple of them.

There was a train track we had to cross over to get into Mexico. This track led to the border crossing and they had their own version of inspection. This track was running parallel and right next to the border. U.S. Border patrol agents worked that section of track frequently.

And so it happened. I had a load of goods I was taking into Mexico. I had no conviction about it, because I was not selling the stuff, it was not a commodity to be sold. It was donated items to be freely given away to Mexican citizens.

As I came to the crossing - it was all dirt road and there were some "people" out there that didn't look so pleasant, looking for victims, well this particular time there was a train blocking. It was going very slow - I could walk at a slow pace faster than this train was moving, and it was obvious why: Border Patrol agents were looking for illegals attempting to come into the U.S.

I have NO problem with this activity, I am a huge - hater - of all these people coming in here and depleting our local funding in terms of subsidies for rent, health care and a host of other things.

But - I didn't take kindly to one of them approaching my truck and starting to give me hell about what I was doing out there. It was the same attitude - and trust me, this was LONG before 9/11 and the Dept. of Homeland Security.

"Where are you going with that stuff" - said in a haughty tone and with obvious gestures. I know, you are thinking I am the bad guy here. You have no idea how these people treat the public - it's ridiculous. It's really outrageous. "Where do you THINK I'm going with this stuff?".
The conversation digressed. He told me I couldn't go in there, I told him to bug off. I was going in and what was he going to do about it? He came up with some "law" that he could stop me from doing so.

"Are you done yet?". The train hadn't passed, I couldn't move yet anyway. He went on, I cut him off. I was very irritated with the way these people treated U.S. citizens. I can tell you stories of being stopped in a Greyhound bus - 200 miles from the border or however far it was - being asked my citizenship. I've passed through so many checkpoints well inside the U.S. I don't believe in this kind of crap being doled out upon us. I have given them all a hard time - because I believe it's just plain wrong. I won't tell them my citizenship if I'm INSIDE the U.S. I just won't. They can do whatever they want with me - I refuse. I was born and raised here and I don't believe I should have to identify that to government officials who think they can do anything they want because the feds told them they could. I support our troops, I don't hate the various levels of government - for their INTENDED purpose - I just wont' put up with this kind of intrusion upon my personal liberties.
The train finally passed - it took a LONG time because it was a LONG train and was going so slow.
We were STILL bickering. I wasn't going to bow to this guy's bs, and he was the "authority" so - he felt he could do whatever he wanted.
I can't really say what happened, but when the train passed, he threw up his hands and just walked away.
And I drove into Mexico.