Beyond Borders documents a new social reality - the creation of transnational communities of working people which exist simultaneously in Mexico, the US, and Guatemala.  These communities are created by migrant workers, linking their towns of origin with newer settlements formed as they travel north.  As a result, today thousands of people live and move back and forth in a larger network or community which exists in more than one place.

Beyond Borders contains photographs and interviews which provide a unique perspective on neighborhood, work life, and social organization in these transnational working communities.  Based on the voices and images of people themselves, the project shows how the traditions of the social movements in their towns of origin become a rich source of experience people draw on as they seek social justice, and the preservation of their culture, in the places they go.  They document the difficult conditions of migrants' lives, but make it plain they are actors, organizing themselves to change those conditions.

The communities documented include those of Mixtec and Triqui migrants in Oaxaca, Baja California, and California, Guatemalan migrants in Huehuetenango and Nebraska, miners and Mayo communities in Sonora and California, and veterans of the bracero program of the 40s and 50s, together with the guestworker programs of today.

Some of the photographs from this project will appear in a section of The Children of NAFTA, which describes the past decade of cross-border organzing activity (University of California Press, 2004).