On a recent Monday, hundreds of workers inside a Reynosa maquiladora moved in sync, manufacturing medical devices on a production line that runs 24 hours a day, nearly year-round.

A popular band sang love ballads in Spanish, blaring across the factory floor from a large speaker beneath a “Viva Mexico” sign made of red, white, and green helium balloons – a homage to their national heritage and in celebration of Mexico’s independence.

More than 130,000 people work in the maquiladora industry throughout Reynosa, just over the international bridge from the city of Hidalgo, one of the southernmost cities in Hidalgo County, Texas. 

Balloons were spread across the factory floor at workstations where specialists could be cutting, sewing, fastening, or inspecting materials and products in various stages of production, which eventually become medical devices used globally for patient monitoring, wound care, and compression therapy.