The Real Reason Illegal Immigration Matters

Election season in the US is right around the corner and one of the main topics that should be on every candidate’s agenda is how to fix illegal immigration from Mexico to the US.  The reason that this issue should be discussed is because a classic borderland is developing in the Southwestern US.

The current border between the US and Mexico has very little natural barriers.  This is why it is so easy for illegal immigrants to pass over the border into the US.  The only real geographic border of note is the Rio Grande, which runs along the Texas-Mexico border.  Despite its name, the Rio Grande is actually quite shallow.  West of the Rio Grande, there are no natural boundaries at all.  This results in the boundary between the two countries existing only on a map.  This is proven by the fact that the two largest bi-national urban areas in the world (San Diego-Tijuana and El Paso-Juarez) lie directly on this border.    

With more and more illegal immigrants entering the US and settling down just north of the border, the demographics of the Southwest US are beginning to change.  In the 2010 census close to 64M US citizens reported having a Hispanic descent.  This represented only 16% of the total population, but a 40% increase to the Hispanic population since 2000.  This growth far exceeds the 4% increase seen by the rest of the population.

As the graphic to the right shows, a large percentage of the Hispanic population live in states that on the Mexican-American border.  These states, in dark blue, also have a Hispanic population that represents over 30% of their total populations.  If the growth rates mentioned above continue, and they will until illegal immigration is addressed, it won’t be long until the majority of the population is Hispanic.  This creates a potential borderland situation between the US and Mexico.

Complicating the matter is the fact that both countries have claimed sovereignty over the states of California, Texas, Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Nevada, and Colorado in the past.  The US and Mexico even went to war over this territory in the 1840’s and 1850’s.  This war, which the US won, resulted in the US annexing Texas and the Mexican Cession (highlighted in red).

With the population in these border states expanding to include a sizeable Hispanic and Mexican population, Mexico will be able to press the US for influence over them.  It will have an economic incentive to do so because Texas and California have the two largest economies among the US states ($1.2T and $1.9M in 2010).  It will also have a potential historical claim over the territory since the US originally annexed it from Mexico.  This is the reason why the issue of illegal immigration matters.