Markets in everything, Mexican edition

Here is a nice, relaxing vacation idea for my wife:

The 20 or so people fleeing the Border Patrol aren’t undocumented immigrants – they’re tourists about 700 miles from the border.  Most are well-heeled professionals more likely to travel to the United States in an airplane than on foot.

They’ve each paid 150 pesos – about $15 – for what is perhaps Mexico’s strangest tourist attraction: A night as an illegal immigrant crossing the Rio Grande.

Advertising for the mock journey, which takes place at a nature park in the central state of Hidalgo, tells the pretend immigrants to "Make fun of the Border Patrol!" and to "Cross the Border as an Extreme Sport!"

As craven as the advertising sounds, the organizers say they are trying to build empathy for migrants by putting people in their shoes.

Here is the full story.  Here is an interesting recent article on sympathy.