Mexican Amusement Park Attraction Simulates Illegal Border-Crossing Into U.S.

Border Crossing Attraction — A Mexican amusement park shows visitors the dangers of crossing the U.S. border illegal with realistic attraction that has been running sine 2004. A migrant crosses the U.S.-Mexico border fence before turning himself in to U.S. Border Patrol on December 16, 2018 in Tijuana, Mexico. Many of the thousands of migrants who have arrived to the border in a caravan had planned to request political asylum in the United States after traveling more than 6 weeks from Central America. U.S. border officials only process a limited number of asylum cases per day, leaving many migrants to choose between crossing illegally or possibly waiting for months in shelters in Mexico for U.S. asylum hearings. Getty Images/Mario Tama

A Mexican amusement park is offering visitors the chance to experience an illegal border crossing into the U.S. Parque EcoAlberto in El Alberto, Mexico offers the themed challenge as a way to promote awareness to young Mexicans about risking their lives to enter American for a better life, the Daily Mail reported.

The four-hour attraction that involves traversing challenging terrains at the cost of $17 ($350 Mexican pesos) per person also has a six-hour version available for $25 ($500 Mexican pesos), according to the news outlet.

Participants of the experience start at a Catholic church in El Alberto. Here, they are given a motivational presentation to promote that the attraction is not a training activity but rather has the intent of promoting awareness about the dangers of crossing into the states illegally, according to the Daily Mail.

Next, visitors are led through realistic landscape and mountains, ending the entire border-crossing experience in what the theme park calls a “big surprise,” the news outlet reported. Visitors to the border-crossing attraction are warned that they should be in good physical condition and have shoes that are meant to walk in difficult terrain.

The amusement park has taken great efforts to make the entire attraction as realistic as possible, showing previous visitors wearing bandannas around their eyes to prevent them from seeing where they are going, the Daily Mail reported. They also have a run in with fake smugglers and border patrol agents, according to PBS.

A total of 70 percent of El Alberto’s population migrates to the U.S. in search of the American dream, the Daily Mail reported.

The amusement park has been offering the illegal border crossing attraction since 2004, the Daily Mail said. It also offers kayaking, abseiling, and has a waterpark.

Mexico