[SteveWig]

I’ll offer a counterpoint. I’ve spent a lot of time in Tijuana the last 10 years and haven’t seen the horrors that the news and social media like to put out.
Tijuana is a border town with rival cartels fighting it out for the best smuggling corridors, both drugs and human. If you are involved in that business then it’s a very dangerous place and the cartels take great pleasure in being as violent and gruesome as possible with their rivals. They do not go after tourists or people just going about their daily lives. My wife is from Tijuana and her family still lives there so weekend and holiday visits are the norm. I have zero concerns driving across the border and spending time in most neighborhoods or downtown areas. Usually a backroad trip to Puerto Nuevo for lobster is part of that although the last few years the lobsters have gotten smaller and the prices higher, but still an enjoyable afternoon/evening.
The food is the big draw for me and many of my friends. It’s worth a day trip or weekend just to sample the aguachiles and tacos.
Now do I exercise a modicum of situational awareness when I’m there, of course, but a lot less than I would in many areas in Chicago, Baltimore, or NYC.
Ymmv but I think to dismiss going across the border due to hyped media reporting about the cartelsis a missed chance to see and experience a pretty interesting place.