This Xenophobic and racist hatred of anyone foreign is despicable and I am ashamed of my fellow countrymen who carry out these illegal policies.

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Patrick passed Dec 2018. RIP Patrick!

Did you happen to get the name of this "officer"? Which police dept. did he work for? City of Yuma, county sheriff's dept., or what? I'd like to know.
Incidentally, the "officer" must have been too brain-dead to notice that southern Arizona is over-run with Canadians driving Canadian registered vehicles every winter for the last several decades. Or perhaps he thinks Canada is part of the US?

Charlie

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Unimog U500 w/Unicat

Ignorance, that's all I can say. My little experience occured in 84 when the then girlfriend ( now good wife ) and I spent a year in North America, 8 months of it touring around on a Harley. Although it was legitimatley registered and insured in California. We carried international driving licences. The officer who pulled us over, in up state New York, looked at this document with a mixture of confusion, wanderment and disbelief. It was clearly written in English ( the Queens variety, not the US's interpretation ), clearly indicating that it was issued in Australia. He looked up at me, then uttered the line. "Excuse me sir do you speak english". After explaining that that yes indeed I do speak english and Australia was a part of the english speaking world, he then proceeded to ask Katrina the same question. You couldn't fault his politeness, it was just that he had gaping holes in his general knowledge. Your've got to remember that Paul Hogan and Crocodile Dundee had just swept around the world like a Typhoon and Air Supply were topping the charts in the US. ( OH dear, sorry about that one ). We did give you AC/DC though! After being held for an hour on the side of the road, with said officer, returning to his squad car to get directions from his superiors back at base, he allowed us to proceed with an official warning, for the initial infringement. I guess my advice is be patient and usually it will sort itself out.

Graeme.

An English friend of mine in the US once had someone ask her what language they speak in London...

People who are in the United States illegally are criminals, and should be treated as such. That said, I am sorry the original poster had this problem. I've talked to lots of travelers from Europe who've traveled with foriegn plates without a problem. I think you ran into one bad apple, and hopefully that was the worse thing that happened on your trip here.

Max, more than 12 million Mexicans residing in the United States are considered illegal, but I do not believe these Mexicans should be treated as criminals.

Perhaps you would change your point of view if you have read about the Mission San Antonio de Velero, built by the Spanish Empire in the 1700s and used to "educate" local Native Americans after their conversion to Christianity. Around 1793, the Mission was abandoned by the Spanish and very soon thereafter became a fortress housing the Mexican Army group Second Flying Company of San Carlos de Peras. The Mexicans renamed the Mission the Alamo.

In December of 1835, The Alamo was surrendered to the Texian Army by General Martin Perfecto de Cos following the siege of Bexar (now San Antonio , Texas) which was an early campaign of the Texas Revolution against Mexico. A small force of Texian soldiers then occupied the Alamo.

Texas General Sam Houston gave a direct order to Colonel James Bowie to abandon the Alamo and destroy it, fearing that Bowie did not have sufficient manpower to hold the fort.

Colonel Bowie disobeyed General Sam Houston's order to abandon the Alamo and by March 1836, Mexican General Antonio Lopez de Santa Ann had led a large force of Mexican soldiers into "San Antonio" de Bexar and during the Battle of the Alamo, mercilessly killed almost all of the Texian defenders.

This event solidified the resolve of the Texians to further claim lands that belonged to Mexico.

After the Texas Revolution, the Texians and the Mexicans both peacefully shared the lands surrounding the Alamo and San Antonio and throughout southern Texas.

The Texas Revolution, the (Texas War of Independence from Mexico,) ended at the battle of San Jacinto, about 32 K from Houston, where General Sam Houston and the Texian Army defeated General Santa Anna.

Although, the conclusion of this war resulted in the creation of the REPUBLIC OF TEXAS, Texians and Mexicans have lived and worked together peacefully since then, and until now.

From the point of view of many Mexicans and Texians, and at least one guy from Arizona... at least the parts of Texas, that were once Mexican lands could continue to be inhabited peacefully by Mexicans and Texians. Mexicans have contributed much to the betterment of the United States and millions currently live and work in peace in the United States. I do not believe these Mexicans, even if "illegal" should be treated as criminals, I do believe our immigration services should be upgraded and Mexicans should be given priority for US citizenship.. if they want it. Meanwhile, I welcome Mexicans into my country and will not consider them criminal, until, in my opinion, they are.

Just my feelings, that have come to me after living in Mexico for more than 3 years...

xfiltrate

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Motorcycle Parking Buenos Aires, Argentina
www.xfiltrate.com
Discover how to legally Buy, Tour and Sell a motorcycle in Argentina

First there is no way that cop was there for 25 years. The number of people that drive down there Canada in huge RVs is a bit hard to miss. The Number of Mexicans that drive up to work legaly is even larger. His boss will have known that even if he din't.
He cant take your bike away he can only impound it the Court can but be he cant.
He works for the state of Arizona (or a county or city) not the USA and cant speak of all the US import laws. Driving laws in the USA are state by state there is no ban on foreign bikes. There is no such thing as a USA plate there state plates.
$600 fine for illegal import, driving a non street legal bike and doing all this across state lines is dam cheap. And a case for the FBI he oversteped his position.

That sums him up bout right

Dam man you got case agenst the city of Yuma and the state Arizona! $$$$$$ You just paid for your trip what with all the mental anguish you now have and damage to bike (you now need a new one) from falling off it after he maid you so jumpy of other cops. God bless the USA and its legal system!

Please tell me you got his name. He is an ass and a clear example of the stupid ugly American sory you had to run in to him.

On the other hand people that are in the USA illegally are braking the law its what the word is. To be legal they need paper work not that hard to get. Much harder to get paper work for a US citizen to live and work in Mexico than for a Mexican citizen live and work in the USA. Id like to be rid of silly paperwork my self, its gust the USA wants it tax $ from even the poorest people
As far as history who has the right to claim what go back before 1700 Norway had people here before Spain and there was Indians (First Nation) before that. Its the Europeans that seem to think only there laws history and people mater. Seems many in the USA take it to the extream.

Right on DLbiten, I neglected to mention "working papers" that could be an excellent option, Mexicans would not be considered illegal, if they obtained permission to work in the USA. Anyone know how easy/difficult the process of obtaining "working papers" is for Mexicans/foreigners wanting to work in the USA?

*Please see new idea just posted at HU Bar under new thread, Rules of War

xfiltrate

__________________
Motorcycle Parking Buenos Aires, Argentina
www.xfiltrate.com
Discover how to legally Buy, Tour and Sell a motorcycle in Argentina

You wouldn't have a case, at least not in Arizona. That is the reason for the continued ignorance in this state--lawsuits are severely limited or neutered; authorities have very little to worry about here. California would be a different matter, or any other lawsuit-happy state, but Arizona, not really. However, a federal lawyer might be able to take it to federal court...

If a person is caught while breaking into a store, he is a criminal. If you run a red light, and are caught, you have committed a crime and are a criminal. It will be entered into your driving record and subsequent violations will take this into consideration. If you sneak across the border and work illegally, you are a criminal. The cost of illegal mexicans to the U.S. taxpayer is 3.68 billion USD a year. They ARE criminals and should be regarded as such in every aspect including jail time and deportation. If we, as travelers, sneak into a country with no visa, no passport, and are caught, say in Egypt, Iran, any African nation, we will likely be escorted to the border after some time in jail, confiscation of our bike, and a healthy fine. Why should it be different for illegal mexicans who contribute disproportionately to the crime rate, welfare rate, and education cost. Throw them out without mercy.

Could not disagree with you more--most of the immigrants (legal or not) that I encounter are among the hardest working, most honest people I know, and are willing to do jobs that most US citizens will not. The fact is that many US businesses depend on immigrants, legal and illegal, and hire them for that reason. We need a work permit program that will allow these people to come and work without being labelled illegal.

Exactly right. If US citizens were prepared to do those jobs and businesses abide by the rules on who they employ, there would not be an incentive for illegal immigrants as they would not find work when they came. The real travesty in my mind is that there is so much poverty in their home country that they are willing to risk death to work in such a way in the first place...

S

Not my words nor facts. Check the FBI and California, Arizona, Texas, New Mexico budgetary findings on costs of illegal Mexican immigrants. For starters though, illegal Mexican immigrants have an incarceration rate 15 times higher than citizens. This incarceration rate does not include those arrested for being illegal immigrants. At 40,000 dollars a year per inmate, that is a lot of money lost. Figures of 7974 dollars per year per student K-1 -K12 and multiply that by 4 million. The facts are available. Yes, there are honest people, but honesty and industry do no obviate illegality.

Do these cost figures take into the positive effect of immigrants represented by the lower costs, for all Americans, of everything from restaurants, hotels, landscaping, housekeepers, vegetables, construction work, painting, etc.? Like it or not, these people form a crucial part of our economy. And if you think that if you drive out all of the immigrants then these businesses will simply hire citizens to take their place, ask some of the businesses involved how well they think that will work.

The 15x incarceration rate sounds hard to believe, but I'll have to take your word for it because I don't have time right now to do the relevant research.

And as to schools--people often complain that immigrants don't try hard enough to integrate into US society (ie, learn English), but then complain about having to pay for their kids to go to school!

And I'm not saying things can't be improved--I totally agree that immigrants should pay their taxes, but right now that is very difficult if not impossible for them to do so, since they have no legal status--again, we need some kind of work permit arrangement that allows/requires them to pay taxes.

Come on, people, this is Yuma! This has to be one of the most ignorant part of the US, but I have only lived here 4 years, and grew up in Chicago and Los Angeles, so don't have too much to compare it to (there was the 2 years I lived on the Navajo Nation in northern Arizona, but that ignorance was more to do with being isolated and distrustful of the "white way" but I guess there is the Arizona connection, too).

Yuma is full of Canadians and Mexicans who drive on their foreign plates through the year--the Canadians during the cooler months and the Mexicans flaunting theirs all year. And I know that many of the Mexicans live on this side of the border with foreign registered cars.

You should really and truly write a letter to the editor at the Yuma Sun newspaper detailing this incident. Track the blogs at the bottom of the article--the racists will go on and on about Mexicans, not speaking English, who drive without changing their plates, and how Yuma and the US will soon be taken over, blah, blah, blah, but will contain many grammatical and spelling errors. The igonorant local-yokels who were born and raised here will tell you to go home, and don't let the door hit you on the way out, again with many spelling and grammatical errors. The Mexicans will defend themselves in some way, but since English is their second language, will not make sense and not be responding to your letter directly, but will be fighting with the racists and the ignorants (who are also racists by nature). But, this is why you should write--the City really and truly wants itself to look good and perfect in every way, and will want to know the details and try to defend itself in any way possible. That in itself is quite comical! Please write your letter and write it soon!!

YumaSun

I can sum it up to the sun being too hot in this part of the US, and the collective brains get fried little by little--the cops seem to be most affected by this phenomenon!

Off the subject a little bit, but an effective strategy that works throughout the state of Arizona when it concerns getting pulled over is to carry a firearm (when one can do so legally)in your vehicle or on your person...the police seem to get distracted by this, and wonder why you are doing this ("because I want to protect myself"). They run the gun's serial numbers and such, and (provided it's) clear, they will let you go. It has worked for me 3 times in the last 4 years. [I would not recommend this if you have foreign plates, and are not a US citizen or (legal) resident. I must stress that part!]