Texas officials warn against spring break travel to Mexico

Texas officials are warning residents against traveling across the state’s southern border to Mexico over spring break following the kidnapping of four American tourists last week, two of whom later died.

A Friday release from the Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) said that Texans should postpone or cancel existing travel plans and generally avoid travel to Mexico “during spring break, and beyond, due to the ongoing violence throughout that country.” 

“Drug cartel violence and other criminal activity represent a significant safety threat to anyone who crosses into Mexico right now,” Texas DPS Director Steven McCraw said in a statement. 

“Based on the volatile nature of cartel activity and the violence we are seeing there, we are urging individuals to avoid travel to Mexico at this time,” McCraw said. 

The Texas DPS said it “understands many people do travel to Mexico without incident” but stressed that “the serious risks cannot be ignored.”

The four American victims of the recent kidnapping were reportedly visiting Mexico for a medical procedure. 

Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) on Friday sent a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken to sound alarms about reports of “Mexican pharmacies in popular tourist destinations selling counterfeit prescription pills” laced with the dangerous and illicit drugs fentanyl and methamphetamine.

“These adulterated drugs place unsuspecting U.S. tourist customers — some of whom are seeking to avoid high pharmaceutical drug pricing in the United States — at risk of overdose and death,” Markey said.

He urged the State Department to take action and issue a travel advisory to “warn Americans traveling to Mexico of the danger they face when purchasing pills from Mexican pharmacies.”

The State Department has travel advisories up with warnings for a number of areas in the country due to crime and kidnapping, suggesting Americans exercise increased caution or reconsider travel to two dozen Mexican states, and urging them not to visit several others. 

“Violent crime — such as homicide, kidnapping, carjacking, and robbery — is widespread and common in Mexico. The U.S. government has limited ability to provide emergency services to U.S. citizens in many areas of Mexico, as travel by U.S. government employees to certain areas is prohibited or restricted,” the department’s summary reads.