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MAQUILADORAS
MAQUILADORAS. A maquiladora is an industrial plant that assembles imported components into products for export. It may be owned by foreign or domestic entities. The term derives from the Spanish word maquilar, "to process [flour, grain, oil, etc.] in exchange for a portion of the product." The Mexican government coined the term in the mid-1960s as part of its Border Industrialization Program, an effort to attract foreign investment and jobs to the northern border region. The initiation of the program led to foreign-owned factories establishing themselves along the border. United States firms-particularly in electronics, textiles, footwear, and toys, and later in auto parts-responded enthusiastically to the lure of cheap labor. By 1990 Mexico had more than 1,500 maquiladora plants with 400,000 workers, located primarily in the cities bordering the United States; these numbers were expected to nearly double by 1995. Maquiladoras became a major stimulus to growth in Texas border cities such as El Paso, Eagle Pass, Laredo, McAllen, and Brownsville, in terms of both retail trade and jobs from warehousing and distribution. In fact, during the Texas recession of the 1980s, the border cities were the most notable growth spots in the state. This fact in turn prompted additional efforts by the state government and border communities to capture manufacturing jobs to provide the components needed by the maquiladoras. Yet the maquiladora industry has been shrouded by controversy, from its early image as a fly-by-night sweatshop system that exploited powerless young Mexican women and left most of the unemployed former braceros and other male