Immigrant Communities in Colorado

The current era of globalization has generated the apparent contradiction between the free flow of capital across borders and restrictive immigration policy. In order to gain a greater understanding of these trends, this course will examine changing patterns of Latino immigration in the US-Mexican border region and in Colorado Springs. The course will consider a range of issues including: the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) and the multifaceted nature of integration between US and Mexican economies, economic development in Mexico that has generated emigration to the US, the nature of the Mexican migrant journey to the US, the role that Latino labor plays in the US economy, and US immigration policies including the militarization of the US-Mexican border. The class will travel for seven days to the Tucson/Nogales region of the US-Mexican border.