Mexico Border Research Articles

Prioritizing Transboundary Aquifers in the Arizona–Sonora Region: A Multicriteria Approach for Groundwater Assessment

Groundwater is vital to the well-being of over 20 million people in the nearly 2000-mile-long, arid U.S.–Mexico border region, supporting agricultural, industrial, domestic, and environmental needs. However, persistent droughts over the past two decades, coupled with increasing water demand and population growth, have significantly strained water resources, threatening the region’s water security. These challenges highlight the importance of comprehensive transboundary aquifer assessments, such as those conducted through the Transboundary Aquifer Assessment Program (TAAP), a collaborative effort between the U.S. and Mexico to evaluate shared aquifers. The TAAP focuses on four aquifers: the Santa Cruz and the San Pedro in Arizona and Sonora and the Mesilla and the Hueco Bolson in Texas, New Mexico, and Chihuahua. With the need for additional aquifer studies in this arid region, it is important to determine and prioritize which aquifers would benefit most from transboundary assessment. This study aims to prioritize aquifers in the Arizona–Sonora region based on multiple criteria. The results from this study reveal regional disparities in the need for transboundary aquifer studies, with some aquifers highlighted due to their groundwater use for economic activities, while others stand out for their population density and the transboundary nature of the hydrogeologic units. By leveraging publicly available data, this research established a priority ranking for these aquifers to support decision-making processes in identifying and addressing the most critical aquifers for binational assessment, while providing a framework that can be replicated across other shared aquifers between the U.S. and Mexico and elsewhere.

Short-Term Associations of Traffic-Related Air Pollution with Cardiorespiratory Outcomes Among Low-Income Residents from a US–Mexico Border Community

Short-Term Associations of Traffic-Related Air Pollution with Cardiorespiratory Outcomes Among Low-Income Residents from a US–Mexico Border Community

P-1312. MPox Seroprevalence and Seroincidence among People who Inject Drugs in the Mexico-U.S. Border Region

Abstract Background We assessed seroprevalence and seroincidence against orthopoxvirus (OPXV) among people who inject drugs (PWID) in the U.S./Mexico border region during the COVID-19 pandemic. Methods Between 09/21-11/23, PWID who lived in either San Diego (SD; N=129) or Tijuana (TJ; N=343) underwent a baseline and follow-up visit involving interviewer-administered surveys and venipuncture. Sera were batch tested at the U.S. Center for Disease Control and Prevention using an OPXV generic IgG ELISA using JYNNEOS® vaccine as the viral antigen. Optical densities (OD) ≥0.1 were conservatively considered seropositive. Mpox seroprevalence was assessed after excluding known sources of anti-OPXV antibodies Results Of 472 participants enrolled, median age was 45 (IQR:38-53), 72.9% were male (3.2% of whom reported sex with men), 11.3% had HIV and 25.8% were unhoused. Although no symptoms consistent with Mpox were reported during the study, 50 (10.6%) had seropositive results at baseline, follow-up or both. Baseline OPXV seroprevalence was 19.4% in SD and 3.2% in TJ, and Mpox seroincidence was 8.97 (95%CI:4.09-13.85) per 100 person-years in TJ vs. 1.81 (95%CI: 0.00-5.35) in SD, with a median of 5.8 months of follow-up (IQR: 4.53 – 6.31 months). Excluding participants who reported Mpox vaccination (N=3), smallpox vaccination (N=73), or those born prior to 1971 who could have received smallpox vaccination (N=140), likely Mpox seroprevalence was 7.8% (23/296), with 13/23 seronegative at baseline but seropositive at follow-up. Of these 13 seroconveters, 5 were female of whom 2 were HIV+. Conclusion These preliminary data suggest a undetected Mpox circulation in the Mexico-U.S. border region between 2022 and 2023 and that asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic Mpox infection may be more common than previously recognized. Although the clinical implications of these findings remain unclear, expansion of Mpox vaccination to PWID may be warranted. Disclosures David Smith, MD, MAS, Bayer: Advisor/Consultant|Gilead: Advisor/Consultant|Model Medicines: Advisor/Consultant|Red Queen Therapuetics: Advisor/Consultant

Mental Health Challenges and Barriers to Veterans’ Adjustment to Civilian Life on the U.S.–Mexico Border

Background: Seeking mental health care is crucial for supporting effective reintegration among veterans. The U.S.–Mexico border presents a compelling and urgent case for study due to its proximity to economically marginalized and medically underserved areas, where the availability and accessibility of services are often limited. Objective: This study explored veterans’ mental health challenges and factors that hindered their adjustment to civilian life on the U.S.–Mexico border. Methods: A total of 36 veterans were recruited using purposive sampling from a mental health agency located in Southwestern Texas on the U.S.–Mexico border between November 2023 and May 2024 to complete an in-depth semi-structured interview and a brief survey. Results: Using thematic analysis, we found six themes associated with our study: (1) mental health struggles, (2) enduring military-influenced mindset, (3) adjustment to civilian life, (4) strained family relationships, (5) past victimization and discrimination, and (6) barriers to opportunities and mental health care. Conclusion: Understanding veterans’ mental health well-being and their prospects for integration into the civilian world is critical for identifying risk and protective factors that can inform the development of targeted health promotion initiatives, strengthen the implementation of equitable health care efforts, and support strategies for enhancing treatment access that address the unique needs of veterans in the border region. Policy and practice implications are discussed.

Metal(loid) concentrations in drinking water and public perception of water quality in the Arizona–Mexico border

Metal(loid) concentrations in drinking water and public perception of water quality in the Arizona–Mexico border

Do Older Mexican Americans With Dementia Benefit From Living Closer to the Border? Evidence From the HEPESE

This paper explores disparities in health outcomes among Hispanic older adults living near the United States (U.S.)-Mexico border. Hispanic older adults face significant barriers to healthcare access, stemming from multiple factors: limited income, high medical costs, elevated rates of chronic disease and dementia, and greater reliance on public insurance programs, relative to other racial, ethnic, and age groups. Likewise, Hispanic older adults diagnosed with dementia near the U.S.-Mexico border face documented barriers to healthcare, including higher costs, fewer adult day care centers, and a lack of health insurance. We use a health disparities and dementia care conceptual framework to explore the interactions of these social determinants of health for the older Hispanic American population. Using data from the Hispanic Established Populations for the Epidemiologic Study of the Elderly (HEPESE, waves 8–9, 2012–2013 and 2016), complemented by the American Community Survey (ACS, 2011–2022), we conduct descriptive and regression model analyses to explore the relationship between living in U.S. counties and states that border Mexico and health outcomes such as mobility difficulties, self-care, self-reported health, and issues with activities of daily living (ADL) and instrumental activities of daily living (iADL). We control for demographic, health, and social support characteristics to account for individual level differences. We also examine how proximity to the border and caregiver and community resources affect outcomes for Mexican American older adults aged 80 and older—a growing demographic with limited data and a higher risk of health disparities. Our findings show that Hispanic older adults who reside closer to the border rely more on caregivers for instrumental and emotional support, report worse self-reported health, experience more difficulty paying bills, report lower independence in both ADL and iADL measures, and face an increased risk of dementia diagnosis, relative to their counterparts further from the border. Our findings suggest the urgency for better policies to address the needs of older Hispanic Americans with dementia in the border region. These policies require a focus on primary care, benefits counseling, and assistance in locating and accessing community services. The long-term focus should be to support flexible caregiving arrangements that increase the autonomy of both the care recipient and caregiver, community support, culturally competent caregiving, infrastructural improvements, and in-home support services for families coping with a dementia patient.

National identifications of transnational students from the USA on the northwest border of Mexico

National identifications of transnational students from the USA on the northwest border of Mexico

Endocrine-disrupting compounds in urban rivers of the southern border of Mexico: Occurrence and ecological risk assessment

The occurrence of seven endocrine-disrupting compounds (EDCs) in four urban rivers on the southern border of Mexico was studied in this work. The selected EDCs were 17β-estradiol (E2), estriol (E3), 17α-ethinylestradiol (EE2), bisphenol A (BPA), bisphenol F (BPF), 4-nonylphenol (4NP) and 4-tert-octylphenol (4TOP). Water samples from the Coatan, Texcuyuapan, Cahoacan, and Coatancito rivers were collected at three different sites on each river and processed by solid phase extraction (SPE). The samples were analyzed by gas chromatography triple quadrupole tandem mass spectrometry (GC-MS/MS) and compounds of interest were identified by dynamic mass reaction monitoring mode (dMRM). Among the target EDCs, E2, BPA, and 4NP were detected in all water samples, with BPA being the most abundant ranging from 4.22 up to 127.96 ng/L. Correlation tests showed significant positive associations between estrogens and BPA, as well as the correlation between alkylphenols and BPA, suggesting common origin emission sources, which were identified as discharges of untreated municipal wastewater. Finally, the estimation of RQ and EEQ values indicated that the presence of E2, E3, EE2, and BPA in all sampled points represents a high risk for aquatic life in these sites, mainly for Texcuyuapan River, where the aquatic organisms may be susceptible to endocrine disruption by chronic exposure to detected compounds.

“When a Lipan Woman Refuses Extinction”: Margo Tamez’s Dissidence against Settler-Colonial Violence at the U.S. | Mexico Border

The article analyzes the collection of poetry, Father | Genocide, by Lipan Apache poet, hersorian, and activist Margo Tamez. The work represents Tamez’s critique of border politics in the Texas-Mexico border region rooted in settler-colonial genocidal practices that have fragmented and traumatized generations of the Lipan Apaches and violently exploited their traditional lands. The border wall imagery remains central in the book and is used by the poet to demonstrate that the colossal structure is not only a material barrier but a manifestation of the ongoing physical, ideological, cultural, and psychosocial oppression. Truthing about the Lipan Apache peoples’ resilient existence in the shadow of the wall, Tamez creates a poetic story in which she restores, nurtures, and celebrates her people’s body, mind, and spirit. In so doing, she continues the role of Nde´ isdza´ ne´ (the People-Women)—traditional law-keepers who have governed, protected, and chronicled the life of Lipan Apache communities for generations.

Six Sides of Migration

This photo collection consists of six color prints showing a visual representation of six sides of the international migration experience. Want to stay. Want to leave. Want to return. Forced to stay. Forced to leave. Forced to return. The different experiences of immigrants inform their information-seeking behaviors and practices before, during, and after the process of migration. The work is based on digitally transformed self-portraits of migrants at the US–Mexico border, and informed by research on their experience, trajectories, fears, goals, and aspirations.

Traumatic Stress in Children and Youth Crossing the U.S. Mexico Border.

We review the literature and examine the impact of traumatic stress experienced by children and youth crossing the US-Mexico Border and discuss the psychological effects of trauma incurred in this population, observing various traumatic stressors and their implications on both short and long-term mental health outcomes. Additionally, we discuss existing interventions and treatment approaches while also emphasizing the need for greater awareness, new interventions, and further research. Over the past several decades, there has been a significant increase in the number of undocumented youth crossing the US-Mexico border into the United States and these individuals experience various traumatic stressors throughout the pre-migration, migration, and post-migration phases. Research on these stressors and their impact on mental health, however, remain limited and access to appropriate mental health care and interventions continues to be inadequate. It is crucial to understand the impact of trauma experienced by youth crossing the US-Mexico border, as it significantly influences their mental health outcomes. Additional research and targeted mental health interventions are necessary to alleviate the disparities in care experienced by these children. Further research is needed to improve awareness and understanding of the problem, develop targeted and effective interventions, and improve overall outcomes.

Children’s Exposure Factors and Risk Perception of Sanitation Challenges Along the U.S.–Mexico Border

ABSTRACT In the rural U.S.–Mexico border towns, transboundary sanitary sewage overflows (SSOs) are of concern. The high concentrations of pathogens present in SSOs poses a threat to the shared ecosystem and communities’ health and well-being. Concerns related to an SSO effluent situated adjacent to a school in Naco, Arizona led to an academic-government-school partnership to assess children’s exposure factors, environment and health related risk perceptions, and risk communication preferences. A survey administered to school staff (n = 9) and parents (n = 31) observed a lower hand/object-to-mouth behavior for children ages 4–6 compared to values in the literature, and the need to further assess exposure factors for children over six. While there was a general negative risk perception to SSOs, approximately half of respondents did not have/were not sure of any SSO-related events. Using the Bioregion/One Health and cross-border governance frameworks, this study highlights the governing barriers that exist during SSO events and underscores the need for community participation, effective intervention, and risk communication strategies.

Development and pilot of an interdisciplinary health education program to address health disparities for gender-diverse persons at the U.S./Mexico border

Purpose: Transgender and gender diverse (TGD) individuals face substantial barriers to health equity, which are magnified for TGD persons of color and those living in medically underserved areas. This article presents the development and pilot of an interdisciplinary health education program for TGD individuals in an underserved U.S./Mexico border community. Feasibility of the initiative and challenges of implementing such a program are discussed. Method: A health education program was developed and piloted through a collaboration between The University of Texas at El Paso and a community partner, Borderland Rainbow Center. The program trained graduate students from various health sciences to educate TGD community members, along with their friends, families, and allies, on gender-affirming care and resources. The program took place in El Paso, TX and southern NM, USA between March and October, 2023. Results: Examples of quantitative and qualitative data that were collected from this pilot program are provided. We present descriptive statistics of pre- versus post-survey data as a demonstration of feasibility and as an example of how such data may be structured in future studies that aim to incorporate more robust statistical analysis. Conclusion: The details of the program’s conceptualization and implementation can serve as a model for developing targeted health education interventions for TGD populations in diverse geographic and sociocultural settings. These interventions are critical as they address both community needs and student education to combat health inequities faced by underrepresented or marginalized groups.

Abstract Su908: Unfavorable prognostic features and temporal trends in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrests (OHCA) presenting to an Academic Center at the Border in El Paso

Introduction: Early recognition of cardiac arrest with bystander cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR), and early defibrillation when appropriate, can improve outcomes after Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest (OHCA). Data from the national registries indicate there are both regional as well racial and ethnic differences in rates of bystander CPR in witnessed OHCA cases with significantly lower rates of bystander CPR in non-white persons. However, Hispanic as well border populations are underrepresented in these studies. University Medical Center (UMC) El Paso, Texas is an academic medical center located 1 mile from the US- Mexico border which is also the only not for profit safety net hospital with a Level1 trauma center. Research Question: Outcomes after OHCA are strongly affected by peri-arrest circumstances including bystander CPR and certain features portend poor outcomes. We performed a descriptive observational study of OHCA cases presenting to UMC to analyze temporal trends in these factors in our community as local data from El Paso is currently not reported in any registries. Methods: We collaborated with the El Paso Fire Department (EPFD) to obtain resuscitation data on patients who suffered OHCA and were brought to the University Medical Center (UMC)Emergency Department (ED) and created a registry of patients who suffered OHCA in El Paso FROM 2017 to Nov 2021. Results: Initial analysis identified around 698 predominantly Hispanic patients who suffered OHCA. Of these 115 were due to non-cardiac causes such as trauma, and 583 were possible cardiac etiology. OHCA cases peaked in 2020 coinciding with COVID 19 surge. Less than one third (31.5%) had bystander CPR with only 11.9% having a shockable rhythm. 64% did not achieve Return of spontaneous circulation in the field. 39% expired in the ED or in the field. We also performed a temporal analysis of these features and bystander CPR rates peaked in 2019 (38.1%to 24.8% in 2021). Conclusion: In our Hispanic underserved population in El Paso, we identified poor outcomes after OHCA, with non-shockable rhythm being the most common adverse feature and decreased rates of bystander CPR (31.5%) with further decrease after 2019. Local community level data which is critical for appropriate local resource allocation to improve OHCA outcomes is missing from underserved populations and additional resources are required improve outcomes.

Seroprevalence and Risk Factors for Cysticercosis in Mexican Americans in Starr County, Texas.

Cysticercosis is a parasitic infection and neglected tropical disease caused by Taenia solium, or the pork tapeworm. Cysticercosis with central nervous system involvement, or neurocysticercosis, is a leading cause of chronic headaches and epilepsy in endemic regions, including Latin America and Asia. In the United States, the epidemiology of cysticercosis has not been well described. We conducted a cross-section serosurvey of Mexican-American adults residing along the Texas-Mexico border (Starr County, Texas) and identified an overall seroprevalence of 7.4% (45/605) for cysticercosis. Brain imaging studies conducted on seropositive study participants identified lesions consistent with calcified neurocysticercosis in 2 of the 45 seropositive individuals. Female sex (p = 0.021), employment in healthcare, caregiving, or social service (p = 0.002), and indoor occupation (p < 0.001) were found to be significantly associated with seropositivity. Further study is needed to evaluate the burden of neurocysticercosis and local transmission risk in this community.

Community Leaders’ Perceptions of the Unique Service Barriers and Facilitators Among Immigrant Families With Young Children in the Rural U.S.–Mexico Border Region

The present descriptive phenomenological study examines the unique service access barriers and facilitators of immigrant families along the rural U.S.–Mexico border from the perspectives of agency and government representatives. Twenty-three semi-structured interviews were conducted with nine local/state government officials and 14 community agency leaders using purposive and snowball sampling. A phenomenological thematic analysis approach was utilized to analyze data from individual interviews. Findings reveal that unique barriers experienced by immigrant families in the U.S.–Mexico border region include rurality, border checkpoints, and U.S. Customs and Border Patrol presence, which have placed mobility limitations on immigrant families, cutting them off from central service providers. Programs and policies aimed at engagement of mixed-status families in areas along the U.S.–Mexico border need to create mechanisms to better reach these families.

Personal Exposure to Black Carbon: Impact of Time-Activity Patterns and Environmental Factors on Exposure Levels

Black carbon (BC) is a critical environmental pollutant with significant implications for human health. This study aims to quantify personal exposure to BC by focusing on the influence of microenvironments and time-activity patterns in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV) region of South Texas, USA. Over eight days in March and April 2023, a portable aethalometer and GPS tracking instruments were used to measure BC exposure among a study participant, alongside recording the time spent in various microenvironments. The BC measurements were correlated to the time activity patterns to calculate BC inhaled dosage values thereby elucidating its impact on human health. The mean values for different hours ranged from the lowest,0.26 µg/m³ ± 0.29 at 02:00, to the highest, 1.07 µg/m³ ± 1.40 at 17:00. The study also identified peak BC levels in areas near major roadways and airports. Outdoor activities accounted for 31% - 33% of the BC inhaled dosage on weekends, which was much higher than the 0.10% - 1.42% contribution observed on weekdays. The results also reflect a negative impact of Mexican wildfire activities on black carbon in this border region. This research provides insights into one of the first black carbon measurement studies conducted in the South Texas, U.S.– Tamaulipas State, Mexico border region.

Electric Eyes

In 1977, U.S. Border Patrol Pilot George Watson praised the latest addition to the agency’s fleet in a photo-essay for INS Reporter. “A new dimension in enforcement capability began with the Hughes 500 helicopter,” he vowed. To illustrate the fruits of modernization, Watson included aerial shots of an arrest in the San Ysidro desert. “Before,” he explained, “aliens” would “sweep across” the border. Now, “Fox Trot’s light in the sky is bad news. Migrants hit the deck. They cannot escape.” Less than a decade later, the magazine admitted that, for the first time, one million “illegals” had been apprehended in a single year. Despite the slew of surveillance technologies at its disposal—helicopters, infrared scopes, night-vision goggles, low-light television systems, and “electric eye” ground sensors—the Border Patrol was outmatched. This article mines interviews, memoirs, promotional materials, and archival photographs from the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) History Office and Library to flesh out the intimate links between visuality, surveillance, border policing, and xenophobic nationalism. Amid hysteria over unauthorized migration in the wake of the Bracero Program (1942–1964), the Border Patrol began to represent sovereignty on the U.S.–Mexico line as a visual project. It resurrected rudimentary tools (e.g. sign cutting) and adopted increasingly sophisticated optical devices. To advertise its vigilance, the agency turned to the camera. Via publicity and commemorative projects, the Border Patrol crafted an institutional iconography that showcased its prescient, scientific oversight even as it displayed the U.S.–Mexico boundary’s persistent insecurity. Throughout, it positioned the undocumented as invasive enemies. Ultimately, the Border Patrol leaned on a visual culture that glorified surveillance to justify the state’s sovereign right to police mobility. Insidiously, it fueled xenophobia by othering Mexican migrants. And it reimagined the U.S.–Mexico border as the site of a forever war: a perpetually vulnerable zone where perfected observation was a required—but never finished—pursuit.

Rocky Mountain Spotted Fever in Children along the US‒Mexico Border, 2017-2023.

Rocky mountain spotted fever (RMSF) causes significant illness and death in children. Although historically rare in California, USA, RMSF is endemic in areas of northern Mexico that border California. We describe 7 children with RMSF who were hospitalized at a tertiary pediatric referral center in California during 2017-2023. Five children had recent travel to Mexico with presumptive exposure, but 2 children did not report any travel outside of California. In all 7 patients, Rickettsia rickettsii DNA was detected by plasma microbial cell-free next-generation sequencing, which may be a useful diagnostic modality for RMSF, especially early in the course of illness, when standard diagnostic tests for RMSF are of limited sensitivity. A high index of suspicion and awareness of local epidemiologic trends remain most critical to recognizing the clinical syndrome of RMSF and initiating appropriate antimicrobial therapy in a timely fashion.

Brushes with History

Against a backdrop of other murals marking national territories and Manifest Destiny—notably, William Leutze’s stereochrome Westward the Course of Empire Takes Its Way completed for the U.S. Capitol during the Civil War, with its iconic depiction of a mostly monochrome van of westward migrants on their way over mountains to California’s Golden Gate—this article focuses on the way artists Judy Baca and Ana Teresa Fernández have both deconstructed physical and symbolic walls to open up a view of migrations across the U.S.–Mexico border as natural. The essay examines how each artist’s work gets to the same end vision but through different starting points in relation to history. Baca—in her ongoing History of California (a.k.a., the Great Wall of Los Angeles), and in her mural La Memoria de Nuestra Tierra, California—has brought repressed or erased history and people to light, and she explicitly envisions the border wall as unnatural. By contrast, Fernández optically erases the border wall at Tijuana / San Ysidro / the Pacific and other places along la frontera, employing Martha Stewart paint to create chinks and gashes in the wall’s ideological veneer, brushing blue onto corroding iron to, she says, pull “down the sky to kiss the ground again.” Baca represents what has been erased while Fernández erases what has been represented, but both do so to reconnect a California landscape that has been bifurcated by the border wall. Considered in relation to the history and historiography of the U.S.–Mexico borderlands—and in particular to work on the physical manifestation of the border through markers, monuments, fences and walls designed to split lands and peoples—this article considers these artists’ work as powerful demurrals, defiant visual protests and imaginaries that affirm inclusion, empathy, and human and ecological connections across the border between Alta and Baja California.