Welcome!
The National Science Foundation (NSF) - Research Experience for Undergraduates (REU) Collaborative Site Program on Immigration Policy and US-Mexico Border Communities has provided undergraduate students with training in research methods and opportunities to conduct research on the impacts of immigration policies in the Paso del Norte borderlands region of Las Cruces-El Paso-Ciudad Juárez.
The program first ran from 9/1/2017 to 8/31/2021 and was renewed for the period from 9/1/2022 to 8/31/2025. Sixty students participated in the program (ten each summer of 2018, 2019, 2020-1, 2023, 2024, and 2025). Many have gone on to Masters and Ph.D. programs in the social sciences, law school, or have found employment in non-profit organizations and international agencies. For details about the program and the summary of outcomes, please see the NSF page for our Award Number 2149449 here.
We are grateful to the NSF-REU program for its support.
Please see this overview about our program and related opportunities, presented at the 25th Imagining America Gathering at New Mexico State University on October 3rd, 2025.
OVERVIEW OF SUMMER 2023-25 ACTIVITIES
Our summer cohorts came from New Mexico State University, the University of Texas-El Paso, and twenty other universities, colleges and community colleges across the United States. Each summer the program provided students with background material and methodological training on immigration and border policies, with a particular focus on asylum and the impacts of changes in government policies in the US and Mexico. See the syllabi and schedules of activities for:
Summer 2023, here
Summer 2024, here
and
Summer 2025, here.
NEWS ARTICLES
Undergraduate students explore immigration policy during NMSU-UTEP summer research program (08/07/25). See this news article about our Summer 2025 program.
NMSU Undergraduates address migrant journeys and issues through summer research program (07/31/24). See this news article about Summer 2024 program.
On the border: NMSU undergraduates present immigration research from the summer program (07/27/23). See this news article for an overview of our Summer 2023 program.
PUBLICATIONS
We have also published articles about our findings in Mexico through a partnership with the Observatorio de las Democracias en el Sur de México y Centroamérica (ODEMCA) and Chiapas Paralelo. See the articles below:
Jeremy Slack, UTEP, Al borde del caos: las comunidades fronterizas en la época de asilo (31 January 2023)
Neil Harvey, NMSU, Los costos humanos de las políticas de contención migratoria (18 September 2023)
María Lima Valdez, Cornell University and NSF REU Summer 2023 Cohort, La estrecha relación de la violencia del narcotráfico y el por qué las personas migran a los Estados Unidos (9 November 2023)
Adri Silva, University of the South and NSF REU Summer 2023 Cohort, La ley de asilo: ¿una ley humanitaria u otra barrera para cruzar? (15 January 2024)
Ashley Infante, New Mexico State University, and Sebastián Rivero Acosta, University of Texas-El Paso, and NSF REU Summer 2023 Cohort, La extorsión y criminalización de los migrantes (8 March 2024)
Mario Varo, University of California-Berkeley, and NSF REU Summer 2023 Cohort, Fronteras digitales: retos en la frontera de El Paso y Ciudad Juárez (16 April 2024)
Elsie Yang, McGill University, and NSF REU Summer 2023 Cohort, La Resistencia Contra la Mina "Cobre Panamá" Sigue... (7 June 2024)
Lauren Jones, University of California-Berkeley, and NSF REU Summer 2024 Cohort, Navegando la violencia y los retornos forzados: las políticas migratorias de disuasión en 2024 (18 December 2024)