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I am reading a book which is quite difficult for me.
I attached a page in which a Japanese guy who is living in the USA is coming back from a trip.

I have difficulties to really get the point of the whole conversation on this page. What exactly is the problem?
The Japanese guy thinks showing his passport is enough because he lives in the US, but the immigration officer says he has to go through the immigration check. Starting from the sentence in the middle of the page 「向こうで出入国手続きをした」 I get lost.
What is 向こう referring to here? The second sentence after this one the Japanese(?) asks why he wasn't told that(what?) before. This mention of Mexico doesn't make much sense to me either.

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  • The second sentence after this one the Japanese(?) asks... <- Which one? All lines in quotation marks「」 in this page are said by the immigration officer.
    – chocolate ♦
    Commented Aug 30, 2016 at 22:07
  • the Japanese(?) asks why he wasn't told that(what?) before. -> 「君は『米国に戻ってくる』となぜ向こうにそう言わなかったのか」 means (the US immigration officer asked the Japanese guy,) "Why didn't you tell them (=immigration control in Mexico) that you were coming back to the US?" It's 言わなかったのか, not passive 言われなかったのか.
    – chocolate ♦
    Commented Aug 31, 2016 at 12:33

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(高山正之 『変見自在 偉人リンカーンは奴隷好き』 新潮社)

The US immigration officer said to the young Takayama that US residents (even those like Takayama) should've skipped certain procedures, to simplify things (for the US immigration office).

「向こうで出入国手続きをした」 == He (Takayama) did the entry & exit (immigration) procedures in Mexico.

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