Next Thursday, 07/20, I will be crossing the border at Nogales to have my teeth deep cleaned (won't go on about the savings, you'all have heard that on and on and on by now) and to have lunch with a few people I am doing a survival run to the border with - two folks on this trip don't qualify for Expanded Medicaid and of course on their incomes seeing an Mexican doctor is so much easier to pull off than spending a much shorter period of time with a much more expensive American doctor. I will be staying with relatives of my husband's who live in Colonia Kennedy - one of the nicest neighborhoods in Nogales and a couple of bumps up the ladder from the 85006 to say the least.
My worry is as usual not about crossing into Mexico but in returning to the US - from what I have heard (and I will admit here and now this is all thirdhand or more and I was not there to witness any of this personally) the US CBP was become more storm-trooperish under Trump and are doing whatever they can to hassle and harrass citizens fleeing across the border to save money. I am really worried that I am going to get hassled and harrassed......what scares me is that if such happens, and I don't legally fight back, I will have to live with myself and I'm just not willing to do so for this or any other country. No can do. So crossing into Mexico - such a liberating experience, so joyfully full of human rights due to medical/dental/optical not being extortionately priced to keep you on the treadmill until death - is now also a fear based experience, due to Donald Trump and the complete and total lack of checks and balances over US Customs and Border Patrol.
I'm hoping what I am hearing is overblown urban legend as I don't care to tie up all the time fighting illegal harrassment would require - I'm hoping that this is relatively smooth and painless. We'll see. I hope to post an update that my fears were unfounded, I really do. So many people count on Mexico for life.....this is a HUGE deal even if to the regulars here it's not apparent why such would drive me to this level of fear. Must be nice to live in that country is all I can say........(to clarify, I mean in America at a social class level where my above words don't make immediate sense that would cause you to nod even if no one was around to see your agreement). Rob