Uneasy neighbors: Mexico and the United States share a 2,000-mile-long border--and the challenge of dealing with immigration, trade, and now a drug war.

• Author: Lacey, Marc
• Position: INTERNATIONAL

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The United States and Mexico have long had a strong relationship. But sharing a 2,000-mile border between the world's largest economy and a much poorer developing nation has always posed challenges--and never more so than now, as the two countries grapple with issues critical to both their futures.

First, despite heightened security along the border, a steady stream of illegal immigrants continue to head north from Mexico in search of better opportunities in the U.S.

Second, Mexico's economy is being hurt in a number of ways by the severe recession the United States is experiencing.

Finally, a violent drug war is raging through Mexico's dries and border towns--and threatening to spill into the U.S.

It's the drug violence that has grabbed headlines recently. The Mexican government's increasingly bloody battle with the drug cartels has killed more than 7,000 people, including journalists and innocent bystanders. The U.S. State Department recently warned American students not to go to Mexico during spring break--angering the Mexican government, which fears for the health of its important tourism industry.

The Mexican drug cartels bring in billions of dollars, and they use that money to buy off judges, prison guards, and police officers. In fact, corruption is so rampant that in some cities entire police forces have been disbanded and rebuilt from scratch as part of efforts to clean house. The cartels effectively operate as a state within the state, levying their own taxes, throwing up roadblocks, and enforcing their own codes of behavior.

The Mexican government is fighting back, making tens of thousands of arrests, including several top drug traffickers and kingpins. More than 40,000 soldiers have been sent to confront the drug cartels' armed posses on city streets, and huge quantifies of drugs and weapons have been seized.

But the violence continues, and concern is rising in the U.S., especially in the border states of California, Arizona, New Mexico, and Texas; the Governors of Texas and Arizona recently asked Washington to send National Guard troops to their states.

Military analysts have even begun to question whether the spillover violence threatens U.S. national security and, to the dismay of many Mexicans, whether the country itself might crumble under the strain of the war.

"The opinion that Mexico is breaking down seems to be shared by much of the American news media," says Enrique Krauze, a Mexico City editor, "not to mention Americans who ... ask me whether Mexico will 'fall apart.' It most assuredly will not."

Krauze isn't the only one angered by the bad press. Mexicans point to the U.S. role in the drug problem: that the drugs are largely bought and used by Americans, and that many of the guns used...