Communities on the Texas-Mexico border used to co-exist in a state of economic symbiosis. The idea of requiring a passport to cross would have been laughable.
Some of the economic activity did involve low level vice: prostitution, underage drinking, prescription drugs bought over the counter. Social damage from a little light vice is always exaggerated, but the border economy was by no means dominated by vice.
Middle class Mexicans shopped in US border towns. Americans bought Mexican products directly from the makers. Middle class Americans hired Mexicans for household repairs and chores. Benefits flowed both ways, not the least of which was a cultural blending that twisted both the English and Spanish languages toward each other and gave rise to a distinctive cuisine.
The borderlands culture is not just dying, it's mostly dead, and the killer comes from this side of the border in the form of the so-called war on drugs.
The great fence the ignorati in Washington think is such a splendid idea is a waste of money and would not be sufficient to destroy a culture that has flourished for generations. The war on drugs, on the other hand, appears to be doing the job.
I dissent.