US citizens are being fined thousands and having their cars confiscated by Mexican border officials

U.S. citizens are being detained and forced to pay fines to avoid having their cars impounded if they accidentally use the wrong lane when crossing the border from Mexico to the United States.

Reports of American residents being humiliated, brought to tears and shackled to a bench for hours as they await their hefty fines have emerged, according to reports by KTTV-TV.

If motorists deliberately and in many cases accidentally go into the Sentri Lane, which allows pre-screened members and vehicles expedited entry back into the U.S. they could face fines of up to $5,000 for each person.

Border crossing points have one lane reserved for SENTRI use only and some will also designate a second lane if needed. A car can only use the SENTRI lane if all passengers (including children and infants) have a valid SENTRI card and passengers have nothing to declare at customs.

California residents told the broadcaster that they were detained and forced to pay fines to avoid having their cars impounded when they accidentally used the Sentri lane.

'They shackled me to this metal bench as I waited for three hours,' Rose, a Burbank resident, said of her experience at the Tijuana/San Ysidro Port of Entry.

She had accidentally used the Sentri Lane, which has concrete barriers that make it impossible for a car to leave the lane once it has entered.

'When we put in the address to go back home, it basically told us to go through a certain way, I guess Sentri is the fastest way to get out of the border,' Rose said.

Patricia Caro and Bernardo Montenegro of Fontana said they also had the misfortune of ending up in the wrong lane.

'I was scared. I cried. I was trying for the officers not to see me cry,' said Caro.

'We just got into the wrong lane. We didn't do anything else wrong but get into the wrong lane,' said Montenegro.

They filed a petition to have their fines dismissed after being fined a total $10,000, upon their appeal U.S. Customs and Border protection paid 90 percent of their fine back.

Meanwhile, Ana Salazar from Pasadena said she has 'never been humiliated' the way that she was when she claims she was 'treated like a criminal' and forced to pay thousands at the Tijuana/San Ysidro Port of Entry.

Drivers who've been trapped in the Sentri lane blame the roundabouts and signs in Tijuana that are a bit confusing. They also say navigation apps are sending drivers directly to the Sentri lane.

Travelers told FOX 11 that they flagged a CBP agent before they got to the actual checkpoint to let them know they had accidentally driven to the wrong lane.

Attorney John Manley, who has represented drivers who've been detained, fined, and cuffed, said fines are primarily issued to U.S. Citizens.

'They basically shackle you to a bench for two, three hours,' he said.

'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.'

CBP agents said drivers are issued a $5,000 citation only after they've entered the Sentri lane for a third time.

But the people interviewed by the broadcaster said that they were never issued a warning.

Salazar said what she witnessed, while waiting to be released, makes her believe the fines are about generating money for the department.

'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.'

DailyMail reached out to U.S. Customs and Border Patrol. They did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Mexico–United States border is the most frequently crossed border in the world, with approximately 350 million documented crossings annually. 

It is the tenth-longest border between two countries in the world. The total length of the continental border is 1,954 miles.

From the Gulf of Mexico, it follows the course of the Rio Grande to the border crossing at Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, and El Paso, Texas. 

Westward from El Paso–Juárez, it crosses vast tracts of the Chihuahuan and Sonoran deserts to the Colorado River Delta and San Diego–Tijuana, before reaching the Pacific Ocean.

Four American states border Mexico: California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas.

Meanwhile, border officials have detained a record 2.2 million people crossing the border illegally in the last full fiscal year. 

The issue has been used by Republicans to attack Biden throughout his presidency, accusing him of opening the country's borders.

Biden last week announced he was expanding Trump-era restrictions to rapidly expel Cuban, Haitian, and Nicaraguan migrants caught illegally crossing the southern border.

Instead, the U.S. will accept 30,000 people per month from those three countries, as well as Venezuela, so long as they arrive legally.

Combined with a visit to El Paso, one of the crossing hotspots, at the weekend supporters it demonstrates that he is serious about tackling border issues.

After El Paso, Biden flew to Mexico City, where he met with the leaders of Canada and Mexico for a North American leaders summit.