For nostalgia's sake, I was thinking about meeting a friend near the Mexican border and checking out Nuevo Laredo, Reynosa, and some other cities with Boys' Towns. However, I just read the following, and am curious if anyone has additional information or advice:

"MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Marauding drug gangs in a violent Mexican border city have turned to kidnapping U.S. citizens for ransom as they seek to diversify their criminal activities, the U.S. government warned on Friday.

The U.S. consul in Nuevo Laredo, which lies south of the Rio Grande from Laredo, Texas, said 22 U.S. citizens have been either kidnapped or disappeared while visiting the city since mid-August."

For the entire article: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/nm/crime_mexico_kidnap_dc