Beginning in 2001 Women on the Border often collaborated with Austin Tan Cerca de la Frontera and the Comite Fronterizo de Obreras (Piedras Negras/Eagle Pass) to produce weekend educational trips where delegates could meet and talk to activist workers in the maquiladoras. 
Often delegates reported having had a life transforming experience when the workers shared their life experiences under NAFTA.
REFLECTIONS FROM DELEGATIONS Melissa Gamez-Herrera, June 2018 I participated in the Austin Tan Cerca de La Frontera delegation to Piedras Negras, Allende and Nava, MX this past May. I also photographed the trip for ATCF, for their own organizational uses, as well as for my practice as a photographer and to be able to make images which show people some of what it is like to live as a worker in the maquiladoras in the US-Mexico border region…Continue reading
Lissette Almanza, May 2017 
Cristina Garcia, Fall 2016 Priscilla Luera, Fall 2016 Pamela Brouker Fall 2010 (Reynosa): “My name is Pamela Marie Brouker. I enjoy poetry, nature, art, film and travel. . . I am an ordained Lutheran minister and certified special education teacher. I was in Mexico, Reynosa, when the time changed. . . Read more.
Elvia Rosales Arriola and Kate Horonzy (NIU J.D. 2007) visit a workers’ colonia in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, October 2005
Cynthia N. Edwards, 2006 “Life at the Border” from 2006 delegation to Reynosa, Tamaulipas. “In October I participated in a delegation to the U.S.-Mexico border. As part of the 12 person delegation, which was partly organized by an NIU-COL professor I traveled to Reynosa, Tamaulipas, Mexico, a town on the U.S.-Mexico border that is next to McAllen, Texas. The group was comprised of …” Read more.
Yvonne Lapp Cryns, 2005 Delegation to Piedras Negras in 2005 “Have you ever given any thought to who sews the pants and shirts you wear? Who makes your Nike shoes? Who put the electrical system together for your car? Five NIU College of Law students had the opportunity to travel to Mexico and meet some of the people who work in factories that make those consumer goods and learn about the effects of globalization on these people who live so close to our U.S. border…” Read more. 
Judith “Hoodeet” Rosenberg’s following the delegation to Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Oct. 12-14, 2001. “Dear All, This is a personal report of the recent delegation to the border, which in many ways was a satisfying and successful trip because of the strength of the Austin delegates and because the CFO managed their part pretty much without … Read more. More by Hoodeet (2001) Hoodeet Reports (Oct ’01)
Reynosa delegation with NIU law students Fall 2006 Photo courtesy of Christina Murray
Christina Murray, Spring 2006 Photographer & Delegation Leader, Fall 2006 “Dear friends and family, So I have been wanting to write for days now, but there is never enough time. As many of you know, but not all, I’m here on the Mexican side of the Texas/ Mexico border, in Piedras Negras, sister city to Eagle Pass. . . I sleep in a maquiladora, which, by definition, is a processing plant…” Read more. Back to Women on the Border