Quote of note:
The jobs created by the maquiladoras, however, have drawn not only Mexicans with high hopes to the border, but also Americans. While the Mexicans fill low-wage assembly line jobs and live in sprawling slums, Americans take positions in management, design, engineering and shipping and live in new suburbs.
The maquiladoras have drawn people from the interiors of both countries toward the border to find a brighter future. The Mexicans fill mainly low-wage assembly line jobs, and the Americans a range of positions in shipping, design, engineering and management. Moving to the border, these Americans and Mexicans became part of a single, complex international economy.
ON THE BORDER
MAQUILADORAS
- Tyche Hendricks, Chronicle Staff Writer
Sunday, November 27, 2005
Mission, Texas -- Rising illegal immigration and patrols by civilian groups like the Minuteman Project ignited new debate over the United States-Mexico border this year. In an occasional series, The Chronicle examines how the two countries' cultures, economies and futures intersect on the world's longest border between a developed nation and a developing one.
Inside Char and Tim Taylor's air-conditioned 4,300-square-foot house in the Sharyland Plantation subdivision, the air was pleasant even as the temperature climbed past a humid 102 degrees outdoors at midmorning.
With its cul-de-sacs and man-made lagoons, their luxury enclave could be in any fast-growing part of the United States, but it is a half-mile from the Mexican border, just outside McAllen, Texas.
The Taylors, both 42, brought their family here when Tim was put in charge of the first assembly plant opened in Mexico by Dayton Superior, an American maker of construction materials. Its "maquiladora" is one of hundreds of American-owned factories on the Mexican side of the border that labor leaders say have cost tens of thousands of Americans their jobs.
The jobs created by the maquiladoras, however, have drawn not only Mexicans with high hopes to the border, but also Americans. While the Mexicans fill low-wage assembly line jobs and live in sprawling slums, Americans take positions in management, design, engineering and shipping and live in new suburbs.
The maquiladoras have drawn people from the interiors of both countries toward the border to find a brighter future. The Mexicans fill mainly low-wage assembly line jobs, and the Americans a range of positions in shipping, design, engineering and management. Moving to the border, these Americans and Mexicans became part of a single, complex international economy.
Trim and tan, Char Taylor popped open a Diet Pepsi and reflected on the life her family has built since moving from Birmingham, Ala., a year and a half ago.
"When we moved here, we stepped up," said the plumber's daughter, originally from Parsons, Kan. "It was a step up."
