State of the Border Report: A Comprehensive Analysis of the U.S.-Mexico Border

A new report examining the state of the U.S.-Mexico border has been released by the Border Research Partnership, comprised of the Wilson Center's Mexico Institute, el Colegio de la Frontera Norte, and Arizona State University's North American Center for Transborder Studies. The document, State of the Border Report: A Comprehensive Analysis of the U.S.-Mexico Border, "seeks to provide a comprehensive yet accessible look at the state of affairs in border management and the border region, focusing on four core areas: trade and economic development, security, sustainability, and quality of life."

"For those charged with negotiating the matrix of political and pragmatic challenges that make up the gauntlet of border policy, there are precious few axioms. Even the landmark North American Free Trade Agreement cannot quite frame the entirety of the U.S.-Mexico relationship. Through a historical process of trial and error, the two nations have arrived at, yet not fully implemented, two key concepts that can guide interaction at their shared border: coordination and collaboration. At the border, the United States and Mexico must manage complex transnational problems and remarkable shared opportunities. Watersheds and wildlife pay little attention to national boundaries, and transnational criminal groups actively seek to exploit regulatory and jurisdictional divides. But with a half-trillion dollars in bilateral trade powering the national economies throughout both countries, border management has implications that extend far beyond the border region itself."

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