Abstract

An increasing influx of wealthy Mexican immigrants has contributed to a changing landscape in the lower Rio Grande Valley (RGV) in south Texas since the passing of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993. This phenomenon resulted in a project designed to explore a new student demographic in high schools along the Texas-Mexico border, the “fresas,” a new student group that opposes the familiar, Latino immigrant stereotype characterized by the popular media (Reyes et al. 2009). “Fresas,” translated to English, means “strawberries” and refers to a privileged, middle- to upper-class student group of Mexican immigrant teenagers who dress in expensive designer clothes; speak in their own Spanish slang; create social spaces at school; travel to their home country often; and influence their U.S. school culture. In this paper, researchers present findings based on their ongoing ethnographic research of this unique transnational student group in south Texas high schools.