Border Patrol Reportedly Fines Pasadena Woman, Friends $10,000 For Driving in Wrong Car Lane

Aerial view of the U.S. San Ysidro Port of Entry (left), and Méxican El Chaparral Point of Entry (right), the border crossing between San Diego, California and Tijuana, Baja California state. The NRHP-listed U.S. Inspection Station/U.S. Custom House is at top-left, in San Diego, California. [Photo by Philkon (Phil Konstantin) used under Creative Commons license]

A Pasadena woman told a local news station that she and her friends were subjected to stiff fines and police brutality during a return trip from Tijuana.

Ana Salazar said she and her friends were handcuffed and forced to pay thousands of dollars so their car would not be impounded.

Their crime? Driving in the wrong lane. The officials who subjected them to the treatment were not officials from Mexico, but with US Customs and Border Patrol.

“I had never been humiliated in my life the way I was humiliated that afternoon,” Salazar told FOX News.

Salazar, Bernard Montenegro of Fontana and a third member of the trio identified as Rose, were initially fined $10,000 after accidentally entered the Sentri Lane on their return trip home.

Credit cards were used to pay the fine.

The lane is for pre-approved travelers only and allows them to cross the border faster. But concrete barriers make it impossible for drivers to get out of the lane if they accidentally enter it.

To make matter worse, navigation apps are reportedly sending drivers directly to the Sentri lane as it is the fastest route.

Attorney John Manley, who has represented drivers who’ve been detained and fined, said the fines are being issued mostly to US citizens.

“They basically shackle you to a bench for two, three hours,” Manley told Fox News. “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.”

Customs and Border Patrol agents claim drivers are issued a $5,000 citation only after they’ve entered the Sentri lane for a third time.

But according to Salazar the trio only entered the lane once and while she was waiting to be released, she heard agents celebrating the money they were collecting.

“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,’” she 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.’”

Rose said she was shackled to a bench for three hours.

After a petition was filed, 90% of the penalties were forgiven.

Pasadena Now has reached out to Rep. Adam Schiff’s office and the state legislature for comment on the matter.