For the first time in our entire trip, the border patrol stopped us. Usually, we drive up, confirm that we are citizens, no one else is in our truck, and that is it. And, yet…
Would we mind having our car x-rayed?
Yes, we would mind.
Well, it’s the fasted way to see what’s inside…
The border agent leaves a pregnant pause, clearly implying that we were not going to allowed to continue traveling until they had seen inside Dodgy. The alternative would be a very long manual search.
For the record, we are no longer on the Texas / Mexico border. We completed that days ago when we came to South Padre Island. Now, we are headed north, along the Gulf of Mexico. Despite having never crossed the border at any point of this trip we are now about to be subject to search without cause or resort.
We begrudgingly acquiesce and a large truck drives by each side to x-ray the truck. Big surprise, there was nothing there. The first border agent walks up: we can continue.
But why were we stopped in the first place? There are already onerous border stops (which we avoided because we never crossed the border), heavy fences, and extensive eyes in the sky monitoring the border. We understood being detained coming into Canada but this security theater is an undignified, invasive joke.
Carol
Inside the US, no intention to cross the border, and the Gestapo stops you? Scary!
Lexi Goforth
I was absolutely incredulous. Border patrol is patrolling way more than just the borders.