Customs and Immigration Rules

Rules and regulations on entering Mexico
 

You will not be required to show a passport, proof of citizenship or obtain visa for a day trip to Juarez. Proof of citizenship and visas are required for travel farther south. If you enter Juarez by motor vehicle you may be stopped so your vehicle can be inspected. There are limits on how much merchandise you carry into Mexico and these limits seem to change frequently. Tourists are rarely questioned in detail about what they are bringing. Do not carry firearms into Mexico.

Returning to the United States

No passport is required for United States or Canadian citizens until 2009 for those entering the U.S. via vehicle. Non-resident citizens of other countries are required to present their passports and visas when reentering the United States.

Each resident may bring back $400 worth of articles duty free once every 30 days  It is unlawful to bring back most fresh fruits and vegetables, uncooked poultry and pork, exotic animal furs and hides and live birds. You can talk with U.S. Customs officials at any of the bridges before crossing into Mexico for a more complete list.

Important Government Offices

United States Customs, call 915-540-5800.
United States Consulate in Juarez, Av. Lopez Mateos #924, call 11-30-00.
United States Immigration and Naturalization Service, call 915-534-6366.
Mexican Consulate in El Paso, 910 E. San Antonio Street, call 915-533-3644.

Brief History of Juarez

There is virtually no recorded history of the Juarez area prior to the arrival of Spanish missionaries in the late 1500s. Indians had lived in the valley along the Rio Grande for hundreds of years. What is now the Juárez/El Paso area was a logical place for them to visit and settle because of the river, and the natural pass through the mountains, which gave the area its name Paso Del Norte –– the Pass of the North.

Spaniard Don Juan de Onate came to the area in 1598. He and his group had traveled north from what is now Mexico City along the path that was to become the primary road of commerce for the next two centuries –– The Camino Real. In the area they found two groups of Indians, the Sumas and the Mansos.

Until the latter half of the 17th Century, no real permanent settlement was built in the area. During this time, the Rio Grande (or Rio Bravo) was often a raging river. In fact, with no bridges to cross, travelers often were forced to wait on one side or the other for months for the waters to subside enough to allow crossing.

In 1659, Fray Garcia de San Francisco y Zuniga began constuction of a mission church to serve the Mansos Indians. In 1668, the structure was completed, and the town that we now know as Juarez, with a population of more than a thousand people, began its slow development. This same church still stands today just a few blocks from the City Market in downtown Juarez.

In 1680, the Pueblo Indians living in what is now Santa Fe, New Mexico revolted, sending 2,000 Spanish and Indian refugees south toward Paso del Norte. When they arrived in October 1680, they effectively doubled the population of the town. To accomodate the influx of people, three more towns were built along a twelve-mile stretch of the south side of the river.

Paso del Norte grew slowly in the 18th and 19th Centuries. The area was mostly a stopover point for north-south and later east-west travelers.

In 1865, with the French forces led by Maximilian in control of Mexico City, Benito Juarez, the elected president of Mexico, fled north to Paso del Norte. The city served as the capital of Juarez's Mexico government until June 1866, when the French were driven from the country. Not long after returning to Mexico City, Juarez decreed that a railroad be built from Paso del Norte all the way to the state of Sonora. In 1888, the congress of the state of Chihuahua changed the name of the city to Ciudad Juarez (The City of Juarez) to honor this most-beloved hero.

Much of the fighting of the Mexican Revolution took place in Cd. Juarez in 1911. Francisco Madero, Pascual Orozco and Francisco "Pancho" Villa were reluctant partners leading the revolution –– each with his own motives, strategies and plans. The Customs House Building (now a museum) at the corner of Avenida Juarez and Avenida 16th de Septiembre became the provisional capital of the revolutionary forces and was even the site where a peace treaty was signed on May 21, 1911.

Prohibition (the banning of alcohol production, sales and consumption) in the United States in 1920 brought a new boom to Juarez. The city became a center for entertainment for El Paso and the entire southwestern United States. Restaurants, nightclubs, gambling establishments, a racetrack, along with less respectable businesses, flourished. The El Paso Electric Company even operated a streetcar system connecting El Paso and Juarez with a fare of only 6¢. This was the time when Juarez developed a reputation for everything from fine restaurants to illicit entertainment. Much of the reputation lives today –– some true and some not. While Americans went to Juarez for entertainment, Juarenses typically came to El Paso to shop during this period. This phenomena continues today.

During the 1930s and 1940s, the economic fortunes of Juarez rose and fell with that of the United States. The end of Prohibition reduced tourism in Juarez, and the depression slowed the economy of both El Paso and Juarez. World War II brought a new boom to Juarez as the general economy improved, and the huge influx of U.S. servicemen to Fort Bliss frequented Juarez entertainment centers.

The period from 1960 thru the 1980s saw increased industrialization of Juarez. The Border Industrialization Program initiated the maquiladora, or twin plant, program where American companies opened factories in Mexico to take goods, raw materials and work-in-progress from the U.S., assemble it in Mexico, then ship it back to the U.S., paying duties only on the value added.

In 1967, Mexican President Gustavo Diaz Ordaz and U.S. President Lyndon B. Johnson met in El Paso and Juarez to officially transfer to Mexico lands that had become part of the U.S. when the Rio Grande changed course during flooding. This land can now be identified as the Chamizal Parks in Juarez and El Paso. The Rio Grande now passes through Juarez and El Paso in a man-made canal so it can't change its course and consequently move the international border.

Today, with a population of over 2 million people, Juarez is one of the largest cities in Mexico. Growth is still fueled by the maquiladora program and the general belief that economic opportunities are better in the north.

Common Spanish Phrases

In most places you'll go in Juarez the people you meet will speak at least some English. If you get off the beaten path or you just want to try your hand at Spanish, here are some helpful hints. Letters in Spanish are always pronounced in the same way as shown below:

a is pronounced as is all
e is pronounced as is bed
i is pronounced as is machine
o is pronounced as is orange
u is pronounced as is rule
ei & ey are pronounced as is vein
oi & oy are pronounced as is toy
ai & ay are pronounced like y in by
au is pronounced like ou in mouse

Here are some standard expressions to help you get around Juarez: