Border Immersion Trip

For several years Belk Chapel has partnered with Dr. Commins, Shelton Professor of Political Science to lead a Border Immersion Trip to El Paso. This border immersion experience provides students with opportunities to learn more about the complex realm of immigration and human migration, through academic analysis and in-person encounters with a variety of key border partners. Students take a semester long course exploring critical issues through a variety of lenses (academic, religious, interfaith) prior to traveling to the border for the immersion experience. During the trip students have plenty of opportunities for on-the-ground learning and service to the community.

2025 Trip

The 2025 Border Immersion Trip is composed of eleven students, led by Dr. Maggie Commins, Dr. Adrian Bird, and Darryl White, Sr. This will be a week-long trip, and will be split between Douglas, Arizona and Agua Prieta, Sonora, Mexico; they are traveling to the border to learn about and experience one of the largest humanitarian crises in our world today. Their travels will include conversations and encounters from all points of view, from US Border Patrol to families inside the migrant shelters. Paired with a semester-long course taught by the three professors leading the trip, the critical immigration issues are explored through academic, political, diversity, and interfaith lenses.

2024 Trip

The 2024 Border Immersion trip to Douglas, Arizona/Agua Prieta, Sonora, took place May 5-10, 2024. This was the first time we partnered with Frontera de Cristo, a Presbyterian Border Ministry that has worked at the border for 25 years. For more information about the trip, please check out our blog!

Contact Us

For more information, please contact Dr. Commins (comminsm@queens.edu) or Chaplain Adrian Bird (birda@queens.edu).