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This is the website for the Trans-Border Institute (TBI) at the University of San Diego. Located just over 30 miles north of the U.S.-Mexican border, the University of San Diego is home to numerous scholars and students interested and involved in a wide variety of trans-border issues.


Find a USD Border Expert - The University of San Diego is home to over forty USD faculty and staff engaged in research, teaching, and community outreach to Mexico and the U.S.-Mexican border region. Their interests are wide ranging, covering topics from biology and anthropology to border security and immigration policy.

Student Internship Opportunity with ACCESS, Inc. in the Immigration Program administering the VAWA (Violence Against Women Act) cases [ PDF (8.5 KB) ]



TBI Nexus Newsletter Spring 2008 Spring 2008 TBI Nexus Newsletter
[ PDF (574.50 KB) ]

Selected Contents:
  • TBI Presents Justice in Mexico Conference: Evaluating National and Local Initiatives
  • USD and the Universidad Iberoamericana Tijuana Collaborate for Student Summer Seminar
  • TBI Special Project: Microcredit Financing
  • TBI Staff Spotlight: Promotions Assistant Carla Meyers
  • Reflection by Ruth Gómez, TBI Research Assistant
  • TBI Sponsors "Border Film Week"
  • Book Signing my Joan B. Anderson and James Gerber



Upcoming TBI Events

July 23, 2008
Los Rostros de Mexico

Time: 7:00 - 9:00 pm, followed by a reception
Location: Joan B. Kroc Theatre
University of San Diego



TBI Border Brief - State Level Justice Reform Initiatives in Mexico"State Level Justice Reform Initiatives in Mexico" [ PDF (148.14 KB) ]

February 21, 2008

Over the past decade, there has been a growing call for reforms to Mexico's ailing justice system in order to address widespread public distrust, case backlogs, systemic corruption, and criminal impunity. In recent years, a number of Mexican scholars, experts and nongovernmental organizations have advocated reforms and innovations that would dramatically transform the administration of justice by blending elements of the accusatorial model found in the United States with Mexico's traditionally inquisitorial model, and adding new alternative dispute resolution (ADR) mechanisms that would alleviate the demands on Mexico's court system.



Election 2008 - Voter Information





TBI Justice in Mexico Project publication:

Evaluating Accountability and Transparency in Mexico "Evaluating Accountability and Transparency in Mexico
National, Local, and Comparative Perspectives"


by Editors Alejandra Rios Cazares and David A. Shirk

This monograph includes works covering a wide range of topics relating to Mexico's justice system: effective enforcement of the law, government adherence to the law, and access to justice through law. Government accountability and transparency is the paramount theme in all these papers.



New TBI Mapping Project - The TBI Mapping Project provides demographic, socioeconomic, and political maps of the U.S.-Mexican border region and Mexico.

Population density, unemployment rates, per capita income, and electoral results are among the many maps that are available through the TBI Mapping Project.
TBI Map



Justice in Mexico Project TBI Justice in Mexico Project -
A research project by the USD Trans-Border Institute (TBI) dedicated to the rule of law and justice reform in Mexico. The TBI Justice in Mexico Project coordinates and disseminates research on three major components of the rule of law: (1) order; (2) accountability and; (3) Equal access to justice.



Recent TBI Media Coverage:

March 3, 2008
San Diego Business Journal
"Area Colleges Developing More Foreign Study Programs" [ PDF (18.98 KB) | HTML ]

March 2, 2008
The San Diego Union-Tribune
"Hard work won them a place in a diverse culture: Little-known Japanese-Mexican community endures despite a world war's injustices" [ PDF (81.92 KB) | HTML ]

February 28, 2008
Inside USD
"Border Film Week Brings Hot Topics to USD" [ PDF (48.42 KB) | HTML ]