“And what was the purpose of your travel today?”
“Oh, we just walked across the bridge to do a little shopping in Mexico.” I was comfortable and relaxed talking to the Border Patrol. “Took a cab over to Rancho El Rey for dinner. You ever been there?”
“Okay, sir,” he ignored my question. “Now if you and your family would step over here please and let me see your papers.”
Uh oh. The agent just said something that made my head spin like a top: Papers.
I calmed myself and put on my lawyer hat. Immediately I realized the implications of his question. And then it dawned on me what must have happened. The law had changed and I had missed the memo.
Time to play it smooth, polite, and respectful. I gestured my wife and kids inside. My car was parked just beyond the U.S. Customs building. I turned back to the agent.
“What was that, sir?”
“I said, ‘Lemme see your papers, please.’”
I smiled at the man and showed him my palms. “I uh … I don’t have any papers.” I smiled even more, willing him to understand and take my side. “I mean, I have a driver’s license. My wife too.”
The agent was not buying it. Whatever charming American-ness I was giving off was not influencing him. “Sir, I need to see passports for you and your wife and for both your children.”
I smiled and shook my head.
“I’m sorry,” I shrugged. “I just don’t have ‘em. We don’t even own passports.”
He spoke sternly, almost angrily. “Sir, you cannot enter the United States without passports.”
I kept shaking my head. “I’m sorry. I used to live here in Eagle Pass. I mean, all my life we could just walk across the bridge. Same thing in Canada. You just drive across. We never had to have passports—”
The man was writing on a clipboard and did not look up. “Sir, the law was changed following the 9/11 attacks. The Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative requires every person entering the United States provide a valid passport upon entry.” They led my family to some chairs, while I continued to talk. Other Border Patrol agents gathered around.
“I, um. I’m sure you’re right. I … I didn’t know. I’m sorry.”
“How’d you get across? You’re lucky they didn’t stop you on the other side. The Mexican guards will shoot first and ask questions later.”
That sounded ridiculous, but I tried to look impressed. “Wow.”
I thought of something. “You know, I used to live here in town on Harold Street. That address still pops up when you Google my name. I was a teacher here in Eagle Pass. I taught English at the high school. Joe Guerra was the principal then. You know him?”
I began to talk from nervousness. They had to know I was an American. Surely they could tell. But what could I say? When I was a child, some television character repeated the line over and over: ‘ignorance of the law is no excuse.’ I had known it all my life: ignorance of the law is no excuse. Ignorantia juris non excusat.
Now I was a lawyer. And an ignorant one, apparently. How ignorant could you be? A lawyer and a husband and father and now I’d gotten my family stuck in no-man’s land between Mexico and the United States. Because I didn’t know the law had been changed after 9/11. Even though everything had changed after 9/11.
Have you ever broken the law without realizing it?
Have you sinned in ignorance?
“And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, ‘Speak unto the children of Israel, saying, ‘if a soul shall SIN THROUGH IGNORANCE against any of the commandments of the Lord … if the priest sins … let him bring a young bullock, without blemish … and he shall lay his hand upon the bullock’s head and kill the bullock before the Lord” Leviticus 4:1-4.
God provides sacrifices for sins of ignorance for everyone, from the priest (above), to corporate sins, to the sins of the individual ruler and the individual common person:
“If the whole congregation sin through ignorance … the elders shall lay their hands upon the head of the bullock … and the bullock shall be killed … and it shall be forgiven them” Leviticus 4:13-20.
“When a ruler hath sinned … through ignorance … he shall bring a kid of goats … a male without blemish … he shall lay his hand upon the head of the goat and kill it … and it shall be forgiven him” Leviticus 4:22-26.
“If one of the common people sin through ignorance … he shall bring a kid of the goats, a female without blemish … he shall lay his hand upon the head and slay the sin offering … and it shall be forgiven him” Leviticus 4:27-31.
Notice that people must lay their hands on the head of the animal to be sacrificed. This is personal.
God does not want to punish you—He wants to forgive you. But He also wants you to see that your sin has consequences.
You can’t phone it in, you know? You can’t ask your servant to take the animal to the priest and perform a sacrifice on your behalf. You must be there, holding the animal’s head as its throat is cut.
Notice too that this applies even to those who sin in ignorance. You may have had the best of intentions. Perhaps you spent money and went out of your way to drive the family down to Mexico for a shopping spree and a little adventure south of the border. But ignorance of the law is no excuse.
Even when you sin in ignorance, there are consequences.
I don’t know any serious Christians who claim never to sin in ignorance. We sin every day. We are steeped in sin. We accept that, we do our best, we strive to grow and always do better, and we remain humble and grateful for God and His Grace.
AΩ.
P.S. The Border Patrol agents gave us a stern talking-to and let us go after about twenty minutes. My teenaged children thought the whole thing was hilarious and have teased me about it for years. Although “U.S. citizens and lawful permanent residents ultimately have a right of entry into the country,” the Border Patrol has broad authority to detain, question, and conduct searches.
Household Words: 