Nada. Nothing
Heriberto Yépez
Every time you want to cross the Tijuana (Baja California-Mexico) / San Diego (California-USA) border — “the world’s busiest port of entry” — a rite of passage takes place.
“When milestones or boundary signs (e.g. a plow, an animal hide cut in thongs, a ditch) are ceremonially placed by a defined group on a delimited piece of earth, the group takes possession of it in such a way that a stranger who sets foot on it commits a sacrilege analogous to a profane person’s entrance into a sacred forest or temple… The prohibition against entering a given territory is therefore intrinsically magico-religious…”[1]
You can legally perform the rite of territorial passage inside a car.
The rite begins you making a long line.
Estimated wait time before reaching the primary inspection booth can vary significantly. It can take from 1 hour and half to more than 4 hours, depending of the hour and day of the week. Nobody knows exactly how much time will it take, though several radio stations give information on waiting time every 15 minutes — but what the radio says can have nothing in common with real lanes of cars or the non-existent or massive line of pedestrians trying to legally cross the border.
If you perform your role in the rite of passage inside a car, dogs will sniff it.
Passenger vehicles are not supposed to touch or play with the animals, whose job is to locate drugs and bombs.
Dog and agents will walk between lanes of cars, and you’re supposed to keep talking about usual matters, but try to keep in mind your conversations may be recorded (somehow). Or you may simply be imagining yourself being recorded by them (somehow). Talk about what you want them to listen.
You should refrain from bringing any fruits, vegetables, live or raw meat in an effort to combat certain diseases or bugs from entering the U.S. food supply. And any weapon, drug (illegal or without prescription), Cuban cigars and live animals will be confiscated by U.S. Customs.
Once you get to the inspection booth, you will meet your ritual partner — an American National Immigration Service officer.
His first communication will be to show you his hand as a stop sign.
He will move slowly, as to emphasize he’s in charge, in control of his and your body.
You should stay ten meters away until he completely finishes inspecting the vehicle and interrogating the passenger ahead of you. When he is finished with her, him or them, you’re next. He will move two of his fingers to let you know it’s your turn.
Now is the time to put your ritual mask. Let your jaw down and remove your sunglasses.
“The metamorphosis usually concludes in a character. Character will not allow any more metamorphosis. Character is clear and is delimited in all its features… It is a way to save itself from the non-stop flux of metamorphosis… Through its rigidity, the mask differentiates itself from all other final states of metamorphosis. Instead of the face’s expressive multiplicity, always changing, the mask implies exactly the opposite: a perfect rigidity and constancy… The effect of the mask is mainly outward. It creates a character… Every language which is to you totally alien is an acoustic mask… “I am exactly what you are looking at” says the mask “and everything you are afraid of, remains behind.”[2]
Once your car stops exactly at the point where he sits in his inspection booth, he will look you in the eyes, which must relax — o your eyes so full of lies.
At that moment, you must show your documents and you must not forget to give straight answers which do not deviate from the very precise question he is making to you.
It is crucial you listen carefully to what the officer asks you and do not forget to answer him directly; short and to the point. Be prepared to show strong ties to your home country with official documentation (only if required). Ties to your home country are the things that bind you to home town, homeland, or current place of residence: job, family, financial prospects that you own of will inherit.
Answer every question truthfully and maintain a positive attitude. Do not forget this ritual is about dis/closure, finding out what the truth is before opening the door of the new world.
He will unequivocally begin the exchange with this ritual question.
— What are you bringing?
You should always say “nothing”.
“Nothing” means you’re not carrying any fruits, vegetable, drugs or weapons.
— — — — — —
“A typical dialogue would go like this:
‘What are you bringing from Mexico?’
‘Nothing.’
‘What are you bringing from Mexico?’
‘Nothing.’
‘You have to answer “yes” or “no.” What are you bringing from Mexico?’
‘No.’
‘Good. Go ahead.’[3]
— — — — — —
BUT SOMETIMES a typical dialogue does not happen.
You need to remember you must not — at any moment — lose your temper. You must bear in mind this is routine procedure. Don’t lose your cool. Maintain eye contact — though not aggressive. Don’t look into his eyes — just open yours. He will enter into you. You should be prepared to let him inside your eyes, clothing, life, wallet or car.
It’s not personal. It has nothing to do with you. Give straight answers. Don’t fuck up. Do not try to enter into his eyes. Open yours wide. But not as if you were trying to eat him.
Don’t swallow too much saliva. Do not speak in Spanish with other passengers while he is addressing you in English. All of you must remain silent unless your ritual partner asks you again what are you bringing.
Do not cross your arms or legs. Officers are trained in body language.
At the verbal level, remain in the generic. Just repeat what you already know as a right answer. Say “nothing” or “nada” but be prepared to explain why are you using one language or the other.
“How come your English is so good, sir?”
He’s trying to know if you have illegally work in the U.S. but are trying to cross as if you were one more tourist today.
“Living in Tijuana makes it easier for one to speak English”.
“And why is your English so good, sir? Where did you learn it?”
Do not explain you learnt English directly in relation to American bodies. That may get you in trouble. You must not show yourself as someone who usually is around Americans and is familiar with English. If you do so, you may appear as someone who works for them and receives orders and often responds to Americans. Do not do open that world in the officer’s map. Keep your story clean. No Americans in it. Please follow instructions.
“I learnt it in school and watching TV”.
Your answer was not the right one. You are not following orders. It appears you chose to disregard laws and rules of engagement.
You opened the wrong door, Mr. You’re telling a story, a personal one. The simple question by the officer was: “What are you bringing?” And you were supposed to say: “Nothing”, so why the hell are you giving away the story of your childhood? It’s beside the point. Just offer generic information. Don’t deviate.
“To work with a plan that is pre-set is one way of avoiding subjectivity… the fewer decisions made in the course of completing the work the better. This eliminates the arbitrary, the capricious, and the subjective as much as possible. That is the reason for using this method.”[4]
Try again. This time don’t mess up. Just answer the question truthfully. And don’t forget your ego will just lead you into secondary inspection. Repeat the pre-set body of text, don’t change your mind midway through the execution of the piece or you will compromise the result.
Don’t lose sight of the fact that once the idea of this interview is established in your mind and the final form of the verbal exchange between you and the officer is trusted, the process is carried out blindly. There are many side-effects that the border-crosser cannot imagine.
“The process is mechanical and should not be tampered with. It should run its course.”[5]
Do not show any emotions. Do not get caught up in narrative. Follow the rules.
— What are you bringing?
— Nothing.
— Where are you going?
— San Diego.
— What are you doing there?
— Shopping.
— Shopping for what?
— I want to look for new shoes. I need shoes.
You messed up.
— How come your English is so good?
— I don’t know.
— You don’t know? I need your wallet, sir. And your cell phone too.
You’re too romantic. You’ve come close to the lyrical, even the confessional. You lose sight of concepts. Try again. Remain calm and uncreative.
— What are you bringing?
— Nada.
— Where are you going?
— San Diego.
— What are you doing there, señor?
— De compras.
— What?
— De compras.
— What? Please answer me in English. You do understand English, right?
— Yes.
— So, why are you answering my questions in Spanish? What are you hiding?
— Nada. Nothing.
The officer will look into your I’s, so full of lies. Between your two I I there’s a separation — every I is a wall. He will look into your documents. He will look into the computer. He will look into your I, I, I… He will look for all kinds of information on you. And you must remain silent. And your story must remain the same. You must have no story at all. Nada. Nothing.
Borders are drawn as rituals of passage to transform you into the stranger, the Other. Crossing to the Mexico-U.S. border is specifically a ritual on you becoming the « alien », alien even to « alien » as your border name — and requires that you play the character of The-1-That-Has-Remained-The-Same. It involves bullying and a strange attempt to reaffirm national identities and stereotypes — in both directions — a performance on power and a language-game which pushes the alien to conceal and/or disclose the transformation of identity which the borders encompasses. Now you understand, right, sir? Are we in the same track?
— Yes.
— You can go now.
Don’t say anything more. Nada. Nothing. Follow previous instructions. Calmly you’re your hand and take your documents back and just drive.
And when Interstate 5 opens, drive without turning back, and feel how the freeway is a fast symbol of the American experience, how OPEN it is, how the fresh air invades your whole car, and skin, how free you feel. How crossing the border makes you feel “alive”.
That’s what this rite of passage is all about.
And please smile. Keep a positive attitude. This is just the beginning. Proceed accordingly.
Footnotes:
[1] Arnold Van Gennep, The Rites of Passage (University of Chicago Press, U.S.A., 1966, p. 16).
“For a great many peoples a stranger is sacred, endowed with magico-religious powers, and supernaturally benevolent or malevolent… These rites, they maintain, are intended to make him neutral or benevolent, to remove the special qualities attributed to him… The actions which follow an arrival of strangers in large numbers tend to reinforce local social cohesion” (Rites, pp. 26–27).
[2] Translated into English from the Spanish translation of Elias Canetti’s Masa y poder. Obra completa I (DeBolsillo, Barcelona, 2005, pp. 535–539).
[3] Originally published in Luis Humberto Crosthwaite, Instrucciones para cruzar la frontera (Joaquín Mortiz, México, 2002, p. 11) and translated into English by Harry Polkinhorn for Here’s Tijuana, edited by Fiamma Montezemolo, René Peralta and Heriberto Yépez (Black Dog Publishing, London, 2006).
[4] Sol Lewitt, “Paragraphs on Conceptual Art”, included in Theories and Documents of Contemporary Art. A sourcebook of Artist’s Writings, edited by Kristine Stiles and Peter Selz (University of California Press, U.S.A., 1996, p. 824).
[5] Sol Lewitt, “Sentences on Conceptual Art” in Theories and Documents…, p. 827.
