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The - Region: An Overview

Paul Ganster

Abstract chase in 1854, established the international boundary be- An overview of the US.-Mexican border region is presented. tween Mexico and the United States that endures today First, the historical development of the region is discussed, (Griswold del , 1990). including establishment of the boundary through war be- As a result of the war with Mexico, a vast was tween Mexico and the United States, emergence of border ur- opened to the dynamic U.S. economy. Economic cycles of ban settlements, and border development related to the , ranching, and agriculture - in combination with the expanding economy of the Southwest of the United States. building of extensive railroad networks - led to rapid eco- Then, economic, population, and political features of the nomic development of the Southwest of the United States in region are detailed, emphasizing the extremely dynamic the late nineteenth century. Linking of transportation net- growth of the region as well as significant economic and po- works of the United States and Mexico encouraged the de- litical asymmetries between U.S. and Mexican parts of the velopment of border . At every major transportation border region. Next, the major issues of the region are de- route crossing the international boundary, customhouses and scribed. Finally, the recent trend in interdependence and service industries for trade developed on both sides of the transborder cooperation is noted. boundary, giving rise to many of the population centers that eventually emerged as the twin-city settlement pattern that characterizes the region today. Introduction The interdependence of the U.S. border region with Mex- The territorial interface between the United States and Mex- ico was evident relatively early. Increasingly, trade was a fac- ico constitutes one of the most dynamic and complex border tor, but also important was the fact that much of the labor for regions of the world. It is an area characterized by rapid pop- the development of railroads, mines, ranches, agriculture, and ulation growth, accelerated urbanization, political change, urban areas in the Southwest border region came from Mex- and economic change. Two very different systems meet at ico. The flow of labor was conditioned, of course, by the dual the boundary between Mexico and the United States. It is push-pull factors of lack of jobs in Mexico and labor needs in where the developed, industrialized world meets the devel- the United States. Mexico's north was isolated from the na- oping world; it is where the North meets the South. It has tional economy; therefore, Mexican border urban centers de- the strongest contrasts in the entire world in terms of eco- veloped in response to economic stimuli from across the nomic differences from one side of the boundary to the border, and Mexican border city growth became dependent other. The border was established by a war in the middle of upon the U.S. settlements and regions to the north. These ele- the nineteenth century and was characterized by conflict for ments have been present in the border region for more than a many . Nonetheless, it is now a binational region dis- century and continue in significant ways today. tinguished by growing integration and increasing levels of For much of the second half of the nineteenth century, transborder cooperation. The issues, problems, and opportu- the border region was a frontier characterized by lawless- nities present at the border are a microcosm of the interac- ness, violence, and lack of strong governmental controls tion between Mexico and the United States, and, in recent (Martinez, 1988). Relative peace and order finally came to years, the border has been key to the bilateral relations of the the region by the 1880s with extension of railroads through- two nations. out the U.S. border region,- economic development, and de- feat and confinement to reservations of most of the maraud- Historical Development ing Indian groups (Spicer, 1981). In Mexico, a half century of The U.S.-Mexican border region initially was the northern internal disorder was brought to a close with the rise to fringe of the Spanish colony of New and then, after power in the 1870s of Porfirio Diaz who was to dominate 1821, of the newly independent republic of Mexico (Ganster Mexican politics until 1910. et al., 1998). Characterized by sparse settlements based on The violent upheavals in Mexico during the revolution mining and ranching, the northern region was never effec- that erupted in 1910 had a significant impact on U.S. border tively settled nor occupied by Mexico, a new nation that ex- . Mexican revolutionaries often operated from safe ba- perienced nearly a half century of internal disorder after ses in U.S. border settlements. of all classes fled independence. Mexico lost much of its northern territories, the violence and many settled on the U.S. side of the bound- first through a revolt of Anglo settlers in in 1835, and ary and remained even after restoration of relative peace in then through a war between Mexico and the United States in Mexico by the 1920s. 1846. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, that was signed in 1848 to end the war, ceded much of the north to the United States. This, along with the sale of parts of and Photogrammetric Engineering & Remote Sensing, to the United States as a part of the Gadsden Pur- Vol. 64, No. 11, November 1998, pp. 1077-1083.

- - Institute for Regional Studies of the , 0099-1112/98/6411-1077$3.00/0 State University, San Diego, CA 92182-4403 (pganstera 0 1998 American Society for Photogrammetry mail.sdsu.edu). and Remote Sensing

PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING November 1998 1077 Prohibition in the United States from 1919 to 1933 pro- United States and also internationally in the bilateral relation- vided stimnlns for economic growth in Mexico's northern ship. The NA~Aprocess helped transform the border from a border cities as they became the sites of tourism develop- region that merely received policy from , D.C., and ment centered on gambling, entertainment, and alcohol (Ma- to a region that began to initiate actions that be- chado, 1982). Although during the 1920s Mexican border came national and bilateral policy. The border was a key to towns grew and their economic bases broadened with the the passage of NAFTA and today is viewed by the foreign rela- creation of agricultural industries and other activities, devel- tions departments of both countries as a region where most of opment was still very much dependent upon the twin city the issues on the bilateral agenda appear first and thus merit across the border in the United States. With the end of Pro- increased federal attention. hibition in 1933 and the deepening , the Mexican border towns were hard hit, revealing extreme de- Major Features of the Border Region pendence on their U.S. counterparts. Mexican border cities Historical forces have produced a border region of some di- did not recover until the World War I1 era brought prosperity versity from east to west. On the U.S. side, the eastern half that continued with the Sunbelt expansion of the U.S. South- of the border is poorer, more , and with a more nar- west in the postwar period. Mexican border cities expanded row economic base than on the end that is wealth- rapidly, so that by 1960 their populations had grown enor- ier, has a broader economic base, and is more Anglo in mously: (281,333), Ciudad Juhez (276,995), population and culture. On the Mexican side, there is also (165,690), Matamoros (143,043), and (134,869) (Mar- some east-west differentiation, principally with respect to ec- tinez, 1975). onomic development. The western end of the Mexican bor- Beginning slowly in the mid-1960s, the maquiladora (as- der is more dynamic economically than elsewhere along the sembly) industry became the great engine of growth for Mex- border. There are also strong contrasts from north to south ico's northern border cities. Maquiladoras, or largely foreign across the border. owned assembly plants that transformed imported compo- While the natural systems extend seamlessly across the nents into final products with inexpensive Mexican labor for border, the international boundary is a very clear dividing sale in the U.S. market, were part of the of the line between two very different human systems. Some fea- world economy. Under this new economic regime, sophisti- tures of these systems do not extend across the border; cated components requiring high technology and capital inten- others demonstrate a surprising degree of transboundary in- sive operations were manufactured in developed countries teraction. A review of the different components of the Mexi- and shipped to developing countries for labor intensive as- can and U.S. systems that meet at the border will serve to sembly. The maquiladora industry, through job creation and provide a basic understanding of this complex region. investment, helped the northern border became one of the most economically dynamic regions of Mexico. By 1998, there Political and Administrative Systems were some 600,000 workers employed in maquilas in Mex- The juxtaposition at the border of the highly centralized Mexi- ico's northern border cities ("Maquila Scoreboard," 1998). can political system with the decentralized federal U.S. political For decades, the most visible element of border eco- system has broad implications for the binational region. The nomic integration from the perspective of the U.S. border differences in the two political and administrative systems his- communities was through purchases made by Mexican torically have made bilateral cooperation problematic. Mexico's shoppers on the U.S. side of the border. Beginning in the centralized public administration has typically conbolled power mid-1980s, U.S. border communities began to see significant and resources which have then flowed to the states and, finally, opportunities in expanded economic relations with Mexico. to the . Thus, local governments in Mexican bor- This was particularly true in the smaller U.S. border commu- der cities have limited financial resources and restricted author- nities, especially along the lower Rio Grande in Texas where ity for many matters, including providing infrastructure and regional economies were narrowly based on agriculture and urban services. For example, in 1996 the of Ti- Mexican retail purchases and were subject to agricultural cy- juana had a budget of about $54 million and lacked authority cles and Mexican currency devaluations. These communities to issue revenue bonds or raise taxes for infrastructure. The viewed maquiladoras as an opportunity to broaden the re- same year, the City and of San Diego had combined gional economic base and actively recruited companies to lo- budgets of $3.4 billion (Ganster, 1996). cate across the border in nearby Mexican cities (Mendoza The different public administration systems mean that Higuera et al., 1993). direct administrative counterparts often do not exist across Mexico, the United States, and Canada negotiated the the border in the Mexican and U.S. twin-city pairs. Usually, North American Agreement (NAFTA) that took ef- local government agencies in the United States are able to in- fect on 01 January 1994. Debate over approval of NAFTA in the itiate projects independently and develop financing. Mexican United States focused national attention on environmental local agencies are not usually able to initiate large urban pro- conditions in the border region and potential impacts of the jects and also suffer from restricted financial and technical treaty on border communities. In response to strong criticism resources and trained human capital (Metzner, 1988). An- of existing governmental efforts on the border environment, other difference in the political and public administration U.S. and Mexican authorities initiated side agreements to systems of the two countries that has important implications NAFTA to establish the Border Environment Cooperation Com- for local border relations is the nature of public service and (BECC)and the North American Development Bank office holding. In the United States, the majority of local, (NADB~~~).The BECC analyzes border environmental issues state, and federal government employees fall under various and certifies priority infrastructure projects for funding to be sorts of civil service systems. This assures that the profes- arranged by NADB~~~.In addition, the two governments devel- sional staffs most responsible for the day-to-day running of oped the Border XXI Program, a process to identify and address agencies will remain in place even when there is a change in border environmental issues through public participation and the elected officials. In Mexico, with the change of adminis- coordination of federal agencies on both sides of the border to trations - whether federal, state, or local - government em- insure the long term sustainability of the border region. ployees at all levels are replaced by new political appoint- The recent history of the border region, culminating with ments. Hence, continuity and institutional memory are much the NAFTA process, has seen a fundamental change in the role more fragmented in public administration on the Mexican that the border region plays domestically in Mexico and the side of the border (Nalven, 1984).

1078 November 1998 PHOTOGRAMMETRICENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING ARIZONA NEW MEXICO

TEXAS

SONORA

CHIHUAHU

COAHUIL

F~gure1. United States-Mex~coborder region.

An added layer of complexity along the border is the about ten times greater than those in Mexico. These enor- structure and organization of local governments. In the U.S. mous economic asymmetries make transborder cooperation border states, local governance is most often shared by a by government entities difficult due to the great differences combination of incorporated cities and counties. Within the in physical and human resources available to each side. county, then, government services are provided by both city governments and the county government. In Mexico, the ba- Demographic Features sic governmental unit is the municipality that governs both The United States-Mexico border region, for purposes of pop- urbanized and rural parts of the unit (Sparrow and Walshok, ulation studies, is best defined by administrative units adja- 1993; GuillBn, 1993). cent to the border: 25 counties in the states of , The nature of federal, state, and local government on the Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas; and 35 municipalities in Mexican side of the border along with the chronic turnover the Mexican states of , Nuevo Lebn, , of professional staff has implications for researche-s. The Chihuahua, , and . The demographic lack of continuity and weakness of agencies means that data picture for this region is complex, for not only are two coun- collection has been somewhat sporadic and data often are tries involved, but the border zone is one of the most dy- not collected and maintained in digital form. Often, data namic regions demographically and economically in each standards are different from those in the United States so country (Weeks and Ham Chande, 1992). that constructing comparable transborder data sets is diffi- Both U.S. and Mexican border populations are highly cult. Moreover, Mexican political tradition views information urbanized, with most border municipalities and counties as proprietary to the particular office and office holder and having over 90 percent of the population in the urban core not to be made available to the public as a matter of course. (Weeks and Ham Chande, 1992; Lorey, 1983). In addition to Thus, knowing what data have been produced and gaining urban concentration, border populations have been, and con- access is often difficult or impossible (Brown and Wright, tinue to be, distinguished by rapid growth rates. Swift demo- 1995). graphic expansion has produced a continuing infrastructure and urban services crisis in border cities, particularly in the Economic Asymmetries Mexican cities that had fewer resources and ability to cope A key characteristic of the economic relationship between with the burgeoning demand. Table 1 clearly demonstrates the two neighbors, and one that is especially apparent in the this urban dynamism. border region, is economic asymmetry. The 1994 Gross Do- The populations of both the Mexican and the U.S. bor- mestic Product (GDP) of the United States was 6,600 billion der zones have, over the long run, exceeded natural growth dollars, approximately 18 times that of Mexico's GDP of 373 rates. Migration is the most important factor shaping the billion dollars. The Gross Regional Product (GRP) of the demographic picture of the binational border region. For ex- greater area exceeds the GDP of Mexico, but with ample, Tijuana's population grew 6.9 percent between 1987 one-tenth the population. At the border regional level, the and 1988; 1.9 percent was natural increase and 5 percent County of San Diego now has a GRP of over 80 billion dollars was the result of immigration. During the same period, and that of the Municipality of Tijuana is probably around Ciudad Jutirez saw a 1.8 percent natural increase and a 7.5 5 billion dollars. Minimum wages in the United States are percent increase from migration (Lorey, 1990: Table S129). In

PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING 81 REMOTE SENSING November I998 1079 TABLE 1. ANNUAL GROWTHRATES OF TWIN CITIES BY DECADE from northern California; Tijuana increasingly depends upon water imported through an aqueduct from the City 1940-50 1950-60 1960-70 1970-80 1980-90 - (SANDAG, 1997). El Paso and Ciudad Ju6rez rely on under- San Diego ground water supplies that are shared, but not regulated, and Tijuana are projected to last only another 15 to 20 years. The major Calexico population centers of the border do not have a secure supply Mexicali for this basic resource. Nogales, Arizona Nogales, Sonora Because all surface waters in the border region are fully El Paso allocated by international treaties and because groundwater Ciudad JuBrez deposits are very limited, there is simply no more new water Eagle Pass available for future growth. Water reclamation, demand side Piedras Negras management (conservation), and development of water mar- Laredo, Texas kets that would permit transfer of water from agriculture to urban uses are all being examined and tested as ways to pro- McAllen, Texas vide adequate water for future growth in the border region. Reynosa The two major river systems of the border region are the Brownsville Matamoros, and the Rio Grande. Both of the basins have in Tamaulipas the past been subjected to intensive development through irri- - - gation, storage, and flood control projects. Those on the Colo- Sources: Reich, 1983; U.S. Department of Commerce, 1983; Margulis rado River include the Hoover that provides management and TuriBn, 1983; Lorey, 1983. primarily for production of hydroelectricity. Release of runoff downstream occurs according to the needs of electric power generation or when the storage system is at capacity; release 1980, 48.9 percent of the population of the border counties of water is not timed for the benefit of downstream users, in- and municipalities consisted of migrants. Of the 48.9 per- cluding Mexico (Weatherford and Brown, 1986). The water re- cent, 8.4 percent were from a foreign country. The 1980 pop- sources of the Rio Grande are also well developed. The part of ulation of the Mexican border municipalities had 31.8 the water course shared by Mexico and the United States has percent migrants while the figure for the U.S. border coun- seen the development of a series of international , jointly ties was 58.2 percent. Eleven percent of the migrants in the constructed and administered by the two countries (Mumme, Mexican border municipalities were foreign born while the 1986). figure was a much larger U.S. 20 percent for the border Surface and groundwater supplies are threatened every- counties (Reich, 1984; U.S. Department of Commerce, 1983). where along the border due to raw sewage dumping, fertil- izer and pesticide contamination of agricultural runoff, and Border Culture industrial and hazardous waste pollution. There are impor- The presence of Hispanic populations on both sides of the tant problems of contamination of surface streams and international boundary, stimulated by important ttansboun- by sewage in all of the border twin-city pairs from Browns- dary economic ties, has encouraged strong social and cultural ville-Matamoros to San Diego-Tijuana. In most cases, this linkages. Although difficult to quantify, these social and cul- contamination has transboundary impacts. With the advent tural aspects of interdependency are nonetheless real and of NAFTA and Border XXI, agencies such as the bilateral Bor- growing. Historian Oscar Martinez (1994) discusses the emer- der Environment Cooperation Commission have begun to ad- gence of groups of borderlanders who participate in a vibrant dress these problems in cooperation with local authorities. border culture that is firmly linked to Mexico and to the By 1998 a new binational International Wastewater Treat- United States. These individuals, who are able to function in ment Plant came on line to treat Tijuana's sewage, and work both cultures and to participate in activities on both sides of was moving forward in Mexicali, Nuevo Laredo, Nogales, the border, in some ways represent the future of the border. and Ciudad Juarez with wastewater treatment projects. The The percentage of these persons in the total border population level of transborder collaboration on these projects is impres- is not large, but, as the region moves toward more advanced sive, and they will bring significant benefits to the border integration, the number of specialists who are fully functional communities. However, the rapid growth of border cities on either side of the border will increase. threatens to overwhelm the new capacity as fast as it is con- structed. Border Issues The border location makes the ordinary business of public Hazardous and Industrial Waste administration and resolution of routine issues much more With the growth of manufacturing and the maquiladora indus- difficult and complicated than might otherwise be the case. try, there has been a great increase in industrial waste in the Concerns that might have a relatively simple domestic solu- border region (HAZTRACKS Web Page n.d.). Largely because tion often become quite complicated in a transborder, inter- of the lack of infrastructure and regulatory and enforcement national framework. The next section provides an overview capacities in the border region, particularly in Mexico, only a of the most important issues that affect border communities. small percentage of hazardous waste from border maquilas is being disposed of in a fashion that would meet generally ac- Environmental Issues ceptable international standards (Newman, 1996). The rest is being stored (often improperly), dumped in municipal land- Water Quality and Supply Problems fills, or discharged into the wastewater collector system. The U.S.-Mexican border region is characterized by its arid- ity, particularly along the central and western parts of the Air Pollution border, and many of the regions of the border find water in As the size of border twin-city pairs increased, air quality short supply for the growing urban populations and agricul- became an important transborder problem. Only in the past tural enterprises (Metzner, 1988). San Diego currently imports few years have good air quality data become available about 95 percent of its water from the Colorado River and through a monitoring network established in some of the

1080 November 1998 PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING I twin city pairs (CICA Web Page n.d.). The most serious cases representatives, but with increasing state and local participa- are in the El Paso-Ciudad Ju&rezregion and in the San Di- tion. These work groups and the coordination by EPA and ego-Tijuana region. In these areas, air pollution is generated SEMARNAP have institutionalized binational cooperation on from sources in two countries and is transported by winds to border environmental problems. affect the entire air basin. Mobile sources are the largest source of air pollution although agriculture is important on Immigration lssues both sides of the border and point sources, unpaved streets, A major area of conflict between Mexico and the United and open burning are significant problems in Mexican border States has been international migration. Migration issues are cities. At every border , long lines of idling vehicles at very much border issues because border communities and the border crossings, in part due to drug interdiction policies states are most heavily impacted by population flows. Both of the U.S. Customs Service, contribute significantly to air push and pull factors, both supply and demand, are evident pollution. in this phenomenon. Over the past several decades, the costs Topography and other features have combined to make El and benefits of this arrangement increasingly have been criti- Paso almost continually in noncompliance with EPA standards cally examined in the United States to the point that they for air quality. In large part this is due to pollutants produced have become the subject of a continuing national debate. in Ciudad Ju6rez and to high levels of pollutants associated Construction of physical barriers along the border by the with the border crossing lines (Gray et al., 1986) Consequently, United States and increased enforcement through internal until an international air basin pollution control authority is checkpoints have impacted U.S. border communities in established, little can be done to alleviate the situation in this many ways. It should also be pointed out that continuing twin city pair. The El Paso-Ciudad Ju&rezregion is leading the massive migration from central and southern Mexico to Mex- way with an innovative effort to develop an air basin manage- ico's border cities has been a challenge to local administra- ment authority, where both cities and countries would cooper- tions in terms of providing urban services. ate to protect a common resource (Emerson et al., 1993). Border Crossing lssues Bioresource Issues As border cities have grown in size and as bilateral trade has The impressive growth and development of the borderlands expanded, particularly under NAFTA,border communities over the past decades have produced significant negative im- have experienced increasing flows of commercial and non- pacts on the native flora and fauna and ecosystems of the re- commercial traffic across the border. Bilateral trade was val- gion. Expansion of urban areas, destruction of native habitats ued at $75 billion in 1992 and had grown to $150 billion in through activities or agriculture, lowering the water ta- 1997. Approximately 75 percent of the bilateral trade is car- ble through excessive pumping of water deposits, and impacts ried across the land border in trucks, and this has over- of recreation on fragile ecosystems have all had important whelmed the border crossing infrastructure of many regions. consequences on the border region. While efforts have been By 1997, Laredo, San Diego, and El Paso each had more than made to protect certain endangered species, it has been diffi- 2,000 trucks crossing from Mexico each day, and the figure for cult for U.S. and Mexican authorities to adequately cooperate Nogales was 1,500 (Bureau of the Census, 1998). Noncommer- to establish transborder reserves to protect habitats cial vehicle and pedestrian crossings have also grown, al- of species that live on both sides of the border (Ganster and though not as fast as commercial traffic. As interactions have Walter, 1989). increased between the Mexican and U.S. parts of the twin-city pairs along the border, more and more border residents have Resolution of Border Environmental lssues been inconvenienced by excessive delays at crossing due to As mentioned above, NAFTA produced an environmental side saturated infrastructure, inadequate sta£Eng of border check- agreement that created the Border Environment Cooperation points by U.S. Customs and the Border Patrol, and inspection Commission and the North American Development Bank. policies that emphasize drug interdiction and determining the These new, unique binational institutions are now estab- migratory status of crossers. The perception of many local lished and beginning to have an impact on border environ- people is that this is another case of a federal responsibility mental infrastructure problems. By mid-1998 BECC had not being discharged properly and local border residences are certified some 24 projects and NADB~~~has arranged funding forced to suffer the consequences. Although both Mexico and packages for some of them (BECC Web Page n.d.). More im- the United States benefit somewhat from the increased trade portantly, NADB~~~,by combining its loan capital with grant flows across the border, border residents receive the negative funds from EPA, has been able to arrange subsidized loans impacts of saturated infrastructure. that border communities can afford. NADB~~~can also use these funds in Mexico where financial resources are much Law Enforcement and Criminal Justice lssues more limited. Both BECC and NADB~~~have now worked Law enforcement and criminal justice issues are a continuing through the issues associated with establishing unique bina- problem for most U.S. and Mexican border communities. tional institutions and are beginning to have an important Very different administrative and law enforcement structures impact on the border region. interface at the border, and use of the border by criminals Another product of the NAFTA process was the creation of for illegal activities makes the administration of justice and Border XXI by EPA and its Mexican counterpart agency, the maintenance of law and order particularly problematic. The Secretaria del Medio Ambiente, Recursos Naturales y Pesca large number of local, state, and federal law enforcement (SEMARNAP). The Border XXI Framework Program, issued in agencies involved make matters more complex and diEcult October 1996, establishes a process to analyze and address to coordinate. In the in California, for exarn- border environmental problems. Based on principles of com- ple, there are at least 14 U.S. law enforcement agencies oper- munity participation in establishing priorities and solutions, ating and just across the border in Mexicali there is an sustainable development, and cooperation of all relevant fed- equivalent number of Mexican agencies (Wilhelm, 1987). eral agencies on both sides of the border, Border XXI is a sys- Transborder auto theft (Miller, 1987) and burglaries are tematic approach to dealing with the growing environmental ongoing and chronic problems, but most serious border problems of the region. The work of Border XXI is carried out crime issues relate to smuggling of undocumented immi- by binational work groups consisting of federal agency grants and drug trafficking. Drug interdiction efforts are re-

PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING November 1998 1081 sponsible for some of the congestion at commercial and rative relations has been across the board, including local and non-commercial crossings at the of entry. Internal state government agencies, higher education, non-govern- checkpoints that inconvenience citizens on both sides of the mental organizations of all sorts, private businesses, chambers border are related to immigrant and drug smuggling activi- of commerce, and civic and cultural groups. While many of ties. A dramatic rise in homicides in Mexican border cities these transborder relationships go through a predictable pro- in the last five or six years is linked to drug trafficking and cess of initial contacts and activities, disillusionment, and de- considerable other criminal activity on both sides of the bor- cline, there is clearly an increase in solidly grounded projects der is related to illicit drugs. Smuggling of arms and con- and endeavors by participant groups. These usually bring sumer goods into Mexico is an ongoing problem for Mexican measurable benefits to both sides by establishing mutually ad- authorities. vantageous interactions. The sum of all these small efforts has The NAFTA era has brought better transborder coopera- been to significantly expand the number of actors in the two tion on criminal justice and law enforcement matters. There communities that are involved in transborder activities and to is a better spirit of teamwork on both sides. Professionaliza- move the entire binational region farther along the path to- tion of law enforcement agencies is improving in Mexico and ward increased interdependence and integration. there is increased attention to training and continuity of per- Anecdotal information suggests that this process is ubiq- sonnel. U.S. agencies have become more sensitive to their uitous along the border. Despite short term setbacks associ- counterparts' capabilities and shortcomings and tend to take ated with economic cycles and political difficulties, the level a more realistic approach in addressing day-to-day matters. of transborder interaction is increasing over the long and me- While over the past five years transborder law enforcement dium term. The US.-Mexican border region is so dynamic cooperation has improved, economic asymmetry realities and that it is not easy to predict how far the process of integra- concerns about sovereignty, as well as the very complexity of tion will advance. Nevertheless, Mexican and American bor- the issues, will continue to produce concerns for border resi- der communities have made much progress towards concep- dents in this area. tualizing and managing their regions in a transborder mode. NAFTA has been a catalyst because it made border issues Growing Transborder Linkages a high priority on the bilateral agenda and brought increased Located far from Washington, D.C., and Mexico City, over federal involvement and funding to border issues, particu- the years border residents have evolved a whole range of in- larly by the U.S. federal government. At the same time, the formal arrangements to deal with transborder aspects of their longstanding inclination of the U.S. government and the de- daily lives. Examples that come to mind are the informal, but centralization process in Mexican public administration have regular, cooperation of fire departments, health authorities, combined to facilitate greater transborder cooperation at the and police to deal with emergencies without the intervention local level in the border region. The U.S. and Mexican con- of either federal government. This sort of interaction has be- suls general in the San Diego-Tijuana region have undertaken gun to influence the national policies of each country and to an initiative that will have long term significance for the fu- redefine the nature of the relationship that exists between the ture course of the border. They have developed the Border United States and Mexico (Duchacek, 1986). Transboundary Liaison Mechanism, an arrangement to convene local actors linkages, both informal and formal, reflect the increasing inter- from all government levels from both sides of the border to dependency of the two nations, particularly in the border work on issues under the aegis of the consuls general as rep- zone. To some degree, on the microlevel, interdependency off- resentatives of their respective foreign relations departments. sets aspects of asymmetry, producing more collaborative, par- This mechanism potentially provides a way for the dissimi- ity relationships at the local level. lar government structures to interact across the border to The border region of 1998 is very different from the bor- deal effectively with local transborder issues. der region of 1980 in terms of transborder interdependence Increasing transborder linkages in most areas and in- and cooperation. The great burst of activity stimulated by ec- creasing interdependence economically, socially, and cultur- onomic linkages between the two neighbors and NAFTA built ally are clear indicators of the direction of change in the upon slow progress made over many decades. The economic US.-Mexican border region. This zone that is the interface forces in the border region, first the maquiladora industry between two asymmetrical partners is moving towards re- and then the opening of the Mexican economy that culmi- gional integration. nated with NAFTA, have driven broad changes elsewhere in the bilateral relationship, particularly as manifested at the References border. NAFTA made the border region a priority for both countries, particularly the United States. Beginning at the BECC, Border Environment Cooperation Commission Web Page, no time of the discussion about the NAFTA treaty in 1993, many date, http://www.cocef.org/. U.S. federal agencies began to pay greater attention to bor- Border EcoWeb. WWW.borderecoweb.sdsu.edu. Linkage to border air der-related issues within their areas of competency. This has and other environmental data. had several effects. First, all this activity has raised the visi- Brown, Christopher, and Richard D. Wright, 1995. Directory of Spa- bility of the border in Washington, D.C. Second, the clients tial Datasets to Support Environmental Research along the and constituents of these agencies in the border region have United States-Mexico Border, Institute for Regional Studies of participated in greater levels of activity. Finally, these agen- , San Diego State University, San Diego. cies have tended to renew relations and establish new link- ClCA Web Page, no date. http://www.epa.gov/oar/oaqps/cica/ ages with counterpart Mexican agencies, and some part of airqe.htm1 Air monitoring data for the border cities. the activities have border components. Duchacek, Ivo B., 1986. International Competence of Subnational At the regional level along the border, particularly within Governments: Borderlands and Beyond, Across Boundaries: Transborder Interaction in Comparative Perspective (Oscar J. the framework of the twin-city pairs, transborder interactions Martinez, editor), Texas Western Press, El Paso. have demonstrated a remarkable florescence due to the pro- cesses and circumstances described in this essay. In the San Emerson, Peter, Christine L. Shaver, Carlos A. Rincbn, Francisco Nu- fiez, Juan F. Shchez, Jes6s J. Reynoso, Archie C. Clouse, Danny Diego-Tijuana region, for example, the micro-regional L. Vickers, Wesley Leonard, Linda K. Trocki, and Clayton Hes- expansion of transborder contacts and linkages has been signif- kett, 1995. Solving Air Pollution Problems in Paso del Norte, icant over the past decade or so, particularly since 1993 and Energy and the Environment in the California-Baja California the NAFTA discussions (Ganster, 1993). The growth of collabo- Border Region (Alan Sweedler, Paul Ganster, and Patricia Ben-

1082 November 1998 PHOTOGRAMMETRIC ENGINEERING & REMOTE SENSING nett, editors), Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias, -, 1994. Border People: Life and Society in the US.-Mexico San Diego State University, San Diego. Borderlands, , Tucson. Ganster, Paul, 1994. Transborder Linkages in the San Diego-Tijuana Mendoza Higuera, Salvador, Alejandro Valenzuela Valenzuela, and Region, Sun Diego-Tijuana in Transition: A Regional Analysis Eduardo Zepeda Miramontes, 1993. Tijuana: Short-Term Growth (Norris C. Clement and Eduardo Zepeda Miramontes, editors), and Long-Term Development, San Diego-Tijuana in Transition: Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias, San Diego State A Regional Analysis (Norris C. Clement and Eduardo Zepeda University, San Diego. Miramontes, editors), Institute for Regional Studies of the Cali- , 1996. Environmental Issues of the California-Baja California fornia~,San Diego State University, San Diego, pp. 57-64. Border Region, Southwest Center for Environmental Research Metzner, Clifton G., Jr. (editor), 1988. Water Quality Issues of the and Policy, Border Environment Research Reports, No. 1. Insti- California-Baja California Border Region, Institute for Regional tute for Regional Studies of the Californias, San Diego State Uni- Studies of the Californias, San Diego State University, San Di- versity, San Diego. ego. Ganster, Paul, and Hartmut Walter (editors), 1989. Environmental Miller, Michael V., 1987. Vehicle Theft Along the Texas-Mexico Bor- and Bioresource Issues of the United States-Mexico Borderlands, der, Journal of Borderlands Studies, 2(2):12-32. UCLA Latin American Center Publications, Los Angeles. Mumme, Stephen P., 1986. Engineering Diplomacy: The Evolving Ganster, Paul, Bernardo Garcia Martinez, and James Lockhart, 1998 Role of the International Boundary and Water Commission in (forthcoming). Northern , Historical Atlas of the U.S.-Mexico Water Management, Journal of Borderlands Studies, U.S.Mexican Border (Norris Hundley, editor), University of Ari- 1(1):73-108. zona Press, Tucson. Nalven, Joseph, 1984. An 'Airy Tale along the Border, New Scholar, Griswold del Castillo, Richard, 1990. The Treaty of Guadalupe Hi- 9:171-'199. dalgo: A Legacy of Conflict, University of Press, Nor- Newman, Joseph, 1996. Maquiladoras Achieve Only 12 Percent Esti- man. mated Hazmat Compliance, EnviroMexico, 5(9):1. Gray, Robert, Jesds Reynoso, Conrado Diaz Q., and Howard Apple- Reich, Peter L., 1983. Statistical Abstract of the United States-Mex- gate, 1989. Vehicular Traffic and Air Pollution, Texas Western ico Borderlands, UCLA Latin American Center Publications, Los Press, El Paso. Angeles. GuillBn, Tonatiuh, 1993. Municipal Government and Development in San Diego Association of Governments (SANDAG), 1997. Water Sup- Tijuana, San Diego-Tijuana in Transition: A Regional Analysis ply in San (Norris C. Clement and Eduardo Zepeda Miramontes, editors), Diego and Tijuana, staff report for Committee on Bor- der Regional Opportunities. Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias, San Diego State University, San Diego. Sparrow, Glen, and Marco Walshok, 1993. Local Government and Economic Development in San Diego: Past Trends and Present HAZTRACKS Web Page, no date. http://www.epa.gov/earthlr6/6en/ h/haztraks.htm, system developed by EPA and SEMARNAP to Dilemmas, San Diego- Tijuana in Transition: A Regional Analysis track flow of hazardous materials across the border. (Norris C. Clement and Eduardo Zepeda Miramontes, editors), Institute for Regional Studies of the Californias, San Diego State Lorey, David E. (editor), 1990. United States-Mexico Border Statistics University, San Diego. since 1900, UCLA Latin American Center Publications, Los An- geles. Spicer, Edward H., 1981. Cycles of Conquest. The Impact of Spain, Mexico, and the United States on the Indians of the Southwest, , 1993. United States-Mexico Border Statistics since 1900: 1533-1960, University of Arizona Press, Tucson. 1990 Update, UCLA Latin American Center Publications, Los Angeles. U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census, 1983. County and City Data Book, 10th Edition, U.S. Government Printing Office, Machado, Manuel A., Jr., 1982. Booze, Broads, and the Border: Vice Washington, D.C. and U.S.-Mexican Relations, 1910-1930, Proceedings of the 1982 Meeting of the Rocky Mountain Council on Latin American U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of Census, Foreign Trade Pro- Studies (C. Richard Bath, editor), Center for Inter-American and gram, 1998. Report FT9100. Border Studies, University of Texas, El Paso, pp. 349-361. U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, 1996. Border XXI Framework "Maquila Scoreboard," 1998. Twin Plant News, 14(1)54-55. Program, Government Printing Office, Washington, D.C. Margulis, Mario, and Rodolfo Turih, 1983. Nuevos patrones de ere- Weatherford, Gary D., and F. Lee Brown [editors), 1986. New cimiento social en la frontera norte: la emigracidn, El Colegio de Courses for the Colorado River. Major Issues for the Next Cen- MBxico, Centro de Estudios DemogrAficos y de Desarrollo Ur- tury, University of New Mexico Press, Albuquerque. bano, MBxico, D.F. Weeks, John R., and Roberto Ham Chande, 1992. Demographic Dy- Martinez, Oscar J., 1975. Border Boom Town. Ciudad Juarez since namics of the US.-Mexico Border, Texas Western Press, El Paso. 1848, University of Texas Press, Austin. Wilhelm, Robert L.,1987. The Transnational Relations of United , 1988. Troublesome Border, University of Arizona Press, Tuc- States Law Enforcement Agencies with Mexico, PCCLAS Proceed- son. ings, Change and Continuity, 14(2):157-164.

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