Four Mexican cities – Cancun, Acapulco, Baja, and Puerto Vallarta – are on about.com’s list of Top Ten Spring Break Hot Spots for 2008. But students weighing a trip to these locales are getting some contrary counsel. An anti-illegal immigration coalition is urging American college students to cancel plans to vacation in Mexico. AUHTM – Americans United to Halt Tourism in Mexico – is attempting to pressure the Mexican government to reign in illegal immigration. It has called for a broad boycott of U.S. citizens visiting Mexico “whether for a night of partying, a day stop on an ocean cruise, a weekend of off-roading, a week of studying archeological ruins, or two weeks at a luxury resort.”
One of AUHTM’s promoters, Prof. Stuart Hurlbert, a biologist at San Diego State University, wrote, “Imagine 10,000 fewer students going to Mexico during the break than had been planning on doing so.” Students who are not moved by AUHTM’s agenda face other dissuasion. In February, John Browning, the chief of police in San Diego, wrote a letter to students at San Diego State University, warning them not to go to Mexico for spring break this year. His warning was not about illegal immigration or boycotting Mexico, but avoiding Mexican cities where increased violence has taken place.
Chief Browning’s strictures and AUHTM’s coaxing must overcome students’ strong attraction for southern Mexico, which presents an opportunity to see the remains of a civilization more ruined than their own, and to experience life where the alcohol is cheap and the drinking age 18.