US citizens detained, fined thousands for using wrong lane at Mexico border: ‘Humiliated’

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Travelers from Los Angeles are being detained and fined several thousand dollars for using the wrong lane when crossing the border from Mexico into the United States.

Two Los Angeles residents told KTTV-TV this week they were detained and forced to pay fines so their cars would not be impounded after accidentally using the Sentri Lane, which only permits pre-approved travelers to use.

“They shackled me to this metal bench as I waited for three hours,” Rose, a Burbank, California resident, told the outlet about her experience at the Tijuana/San Ysidro Port of Entry, where she accidentally used the Sentri Lane, which has concrete barriers that make it impossible for a car to leave the lane once it has entered.

“When we put in the address to go back home, it basically told us to go through a certain way, I guess Sentri is the fastest way to get out of the border,” Rose said.

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Cars queue at the San Ysidro crossing port on the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on Dec. 19, 2022
(Photo by Guillermo Arias / AFP)

“I had never been humiliated in my life the way I was humiliated that afternoon,” Ana Salazar, a Pasadena, California resident, told KTTV-TV.

Attorney John Manley told the outlet he has represented drivers who have been detained and fined for using the wrong lane.

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“They basically shackle you to a bench for two, three hours,” Manley said. “They say, ‘Yep, we’re gonna take your car,’ or, ‘we’re gonna fine you $5,000,’ for what amounts to being in the wrong lane of traffic.”

Agents from the CBP said that drivers are issued a $5,000 fine only if they have used the Sentri lane for the third time, but California residents told KTTV-TV they never received a warning.

“When I was in the office waiting, one of the agents came in and he shouted at everyone else in the office, ‘Oh, we got another $5K,’” Salazar said. “Obviously, it was someone else that went through the same thing I did. So, I just thought to myself, Oh, this is just a business.”

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Barriers are seen on the U.S. side of the San Ysidro crossing port on the U.S.-Mexico border in Tijuana, Baja California state, Mexico, on Dec. 19, 2022.
(Photo by Guillermo Arias / AFP)

Bernardo Montenegro and his common law wife Patricia Caro from Fontana, California, say they were fined a total of $10,000 for using the Sentri Lane and that the CBP forgave 90% of the penalty when they appealed the fine.

“We just got into the wrong lane. We didn’t do anything else wrong but get into the wrong lane,” Montenegro said.

U.S. Customs and Border Patrol did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Fox News Digital. 

Andrew Mark Miller is a writer at Fox News. Find him on Twitter @andymarkmiller and email tips to AndrewMark.Miller@Fox.com.