Check out the State Department's web site. Current regulations for US citizens going to/from Mexico are here.
At present, a US citizen only needs a passport to return to the US from Mexico if they're coming by air. If you're coming back into the US from Mexico by sea or land, all you need is government-issued photo ID (like a drivers' license).
In summer of 2009, you'll need a passport to reenter the US from Mexico by sea. No word yet on when/if you'll need a passport to come by land.
I've also heard of travel IDs that the US citizens can get, that can be used in lieu of a passport to cross the borders with Canada & Mexico, but don't know any details yet. I've got a passport, and I just make sure to have that with me when I travel to Canada, just to be overcautious.
They need a photo ID *and* proof of citizenship, such as a birth certificate or green card if traveling by land. This is a fairly recent development (start of the year, maybe?) due to Pres. Bush's insistence on enforcing an old, old law that was on the books but hasn't been enforced in quite some time. There was some impatience that the passport requirement wasn't in full effect yet, so we've returned to needing birth certificates as well.
I'm not sure how it is for USA residents returning to the states from MExico, but for Mexicans going through customs is... well, hell. You need a passport and a visa. Both are put through a computer, you have to get your fingerprint scanned, and the guard study your photo a lot (Asking you to change your hairdo if it's too different from the photo even) Then, if the VISA type is not the right type for whatever you're going to do, they might hold you up or make you get a new VISA (happened to me twice, and once even when my VISA was for what I was going to do, press coverage of an event)
When driving from LA to San Diego and back, sometimes you get stopped by border patrol. There are times when I've gotten stopped, and times when we just went on through without stopping. I think it depends on time of day, what the car looks like, what the driver looks like, etc. The last time was at like 2 am on a week night, with my dad, sister and I in his truck, and we didn't get stopped.
I think as long as the driver has some state/government ID and you don't look too suspicious, it won't be a big thing. Though I do suggest having ID on you at all times when you cross a border, no matter where you go or how long. Just safer, you know?
If your character is going through the California border, just have them pull him over (which is routine) and then recognize his face. If they really do run his ID, wouldn't be clear that he's not who they think he is?
I think you're mixing up Customs and Immigration. When you return to the US from another country by air you stand in two different lines. The Immigration officer ensures that you are allowed in the country and checks your passport against a data base that does have alerts for certain people. *Then* if you pass that, you go to Customs and they can examine your luggage.
At road entry points, the same officer may perform both functions. As someone mentioned, the requirement that you have a passport for road entry has been delayed, but you do have to have a photo id (driver's license works) and they are supposed to check. But mistakes are made. Most notably, last year Andrew Speaker was returning to the US after he had been put on a no fly list and was supposed to be stopped at any check point. He came back through Canada and was not stopped at the border, presumably because the officer was frightened to stop him.
In any event, you want to look for Immigration checkpoint procedures, not Customs.
Customs can send you back to Immigration if they notice anything odd about your paperwork. Generally this only happens if you do something to bring it to their attention; my mom (Customs Inspector, pre-9/11) sent a particularly obnoxious football player back because he tried to play the "do you know who I am? I'm ___, Dallas Cowboys superstar!" card when his visa was very specific about him playing for LA. Normally she wouldn't have noticed at all, or if she had, well, these things happen when you change jobs and the paperwork hasn't caught up, but he'd been extremely obnoxious.
Mom says most people who get caught do so because of their behaviour, not their paperwork. There are just so many people and it's a mind-numbing job, so if you don't do anything to stand out, they don't notice. If they're good at it, of course, their paperwork and their behaviour don't draw attention at all (in her day it was contraband and drugs that they were most interested in, not particular people.)
Okay, this was a few years ago, but post 9/11 if I remember right. When passing into Mexico they pretty much just waved us through. When we were coming back (through Laredo)we went through one of the busiest checkpoints on the US/Mexico border
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At present, a US citizen only needs a passport to return to the US from Mexico if they're coming by air. If you're coming back into the US from Mexico by sea or land, all you need is government-issued photo ID (like a drivers' license).
In summer of 2009, you'll need a passport to reenter the US from Mexico by sea. No word yet on when/if you'll need a passport to come by land.
I've also heard of travel IDs that the US citizens can get, that can be used in lieu of a passport to cross the borders with Canada & Mexico, but don't know any details yet. I've got a passport, and I just make sure to have that with me when I travel to Canada, just to be overcautious.
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I think as long as the driver has some state/government ID and you don't look too suspicious, it won't be a big thing. Though I do suggest having ID on you at all times when you cross a border, no matter where you go or how long. Just safer, you know?
If your character is going through the California border, just have them pull him over (which is routine) and then recognize his face. If they really do run his ID, wouldn't be clear that he's not who they think he is?
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At road entry points, the same officer may perform both functions. As someone mentioned, the requirement that you have a passport for road entry has been delayed, but you do have to have a photo id (driver's license works) and they are supposed to check. But mistakes are made. Most notably, last year Andrew Speaker was returning to the US after he had been put on a no fly list and was supposed to be stopped at any check point. He came back through Canada and was not stopped at the border, presumably because the officer was frightened to stop him.
In any event, you want to look for Immigration checkpoint procedures, not Customs.
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Mom says most people who get caught do so because of their behaviour, not their paperwork. There are just so many people and it's a mind-numbing job, so if you don't do anything to stand out, they don't notice. If they're good at it, of course, their paperwork and their behaviour don't draw attention at all (in her day it was contraband and drugs that they were most interested in, not particular people.)
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