New tours show the Arizona-Mexican border

NOGALES, AZ - If you have ever wished to see the Arizona Mexican border, but thought it was not safe, or you heard too many bad things, there is now a company giving guided tours.

ABC 15 went along for the ride that is being called an honest look at life on the border.

The “Border Crisis: Fact and Fiction” bus tour takes riders to various locations in and around Nogales, Arizona.

From commonly frequented border crosser emergency water supplies, to a ranch where the owners deal with the immigrants on a weekly basis, riders experience a wide range of border life.

The promotional pamphlet from the Gray Line Tours encourages people to “take your own fact-finding mission on the U.S.-Mexico border.”

The organizers insist that there is no political agenda on the tour. “Don’t let the politicians and news broadcasters become your only source of information,” the pamphlet adds.

"Instead of having to learn about the border from people outside of the border, the border is going to speak to you itself today," tour guide Bob Feinman tells riders.

Emmett Smelser and his wife Carol came to see from themselves if what they see on TV and read in the paper is true about Arizona's controversial border. Much of what they hear is negative: drug cartels, kidnappings, murders, and headless bodies are just some.

"The national media are full of stories [about the border], as well as the local media,” Emmett said. “I know there is a lot that gets reported, as well as a lot that doesn't get reported. I want to get the facts."

Rancher Dan Bell tells the tour group about how he and his family have lived on the border for three generations.

"The problem is you never know what you're going to come across when you're out here,” Bell said. “You don't know if you're going to be coming across somebody who's just simply looking for work, or if it's somebody who's doing criminal activity."

Tourists get to see the rebuilding of the border fence in Nogales, as well as the border check points where thousands of Mexicans and Americans travel back and forth every day.

Rider Lynne Pickett said she is glad she took the tour. Until the trip, she says for a long time she was too scared to travel to the border.

"After this, I'm going back," Pickett said. “I’m not afraid anymore. I have seen a lot of difference down there. It was totally eye opening."

Gray Line Tours of Tucson partnered with Humane Borders and the Santa Cruz Community Foundation on the all day excursion. The trips are currently offered twice a month, or upon request for large groups. The cost is $75 per person, which does include lunch from a restaurant on the Mexican side of the border.

For more information, contact Gray Line Tours of Tucson at 520-622-8811.