College cancels spring break mission trips to Mexico

HOLLAND, Mich. (RNS) Hope College has canceled spring break mission trips for the first time, fearing that students would not be safe in Mexico after three Americans were killed by suspected drug gang hitmen. Hope’s Campus Ministries Office had planned to send 22 students for trips to Tijuana and Miguel Aleman starting Friday (March 19). […]

HOLLAND, Mich. (RNS) Hope College has canceled spring break mission trips for the first time, fearing that students would not be safe in Mexico after three Americans were killed by suspected drug gang hitmen.

Hope’s Campus Ministries Office had planned to send 22 students for trips to Tijuana and Miguel Aleman starting Friday (March 19).

But spokesman Greg Olgers said the college didn’t want to send students into a dangerous situation. Three Americans were killed on Saturday in Juarez in an attack reportedly linked to the country’s stepped-up war on drug cartels.


Outbreaks of violence have already prompted another Christian college, Cornerstone University, to nix a spring-break mission in Haiti, and other colleges are contemplating similar moves.

Olgers said the trip was canceled after the U.S. State Department issued a warning, and Hope staff consulted with partners in Miguel Aleman.

Students were expecting to volunteer at a Christian elementary school while on the trip. Olgers said most of the affected students will be able to join Hope students headed to other destinations. More than 230 students will be participating in 17 other service and mission trips during the break, which runs from March 19 to 28.

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