Due to heightened homeland security concerns, greater attention is now being placed on establishing the actual limits of the international line as demonstrated by the construction of the triple border fence along the final 3.5-mile stretch of the border before it reaches the ocean.5

Beyond legal definitions and limits, a growing number of municipalities across San Diego County, as well as its bordering Counties of Riverside, Orange and Imperial, are directly impacted from their proximity to the international border through increased migration and the resulting fiscal pressures due to un-funded mandates in the areas of education, health and social services. Among those hospitals located in California’s border Counties (San Diego and Imperial), total uncompensated medical costs were over $79 million in 2000 for emergency health care to undocumented immigrants.6

The interdependencies between San Diego, its neighboring Counties and Baja California are becoming much more intertwined due to the growing Latinization of the binational region’s population and the increased levels of family and inter-personal ties that are weaving a complex geo-political tapestry between Southern California and Baja California that is increasingly becoming one. According to the US Census, 8.4 million Californians are of Mexican origin representing 25% of the state’s population. In San Diego County, 26.7% of its 2.8 million permanent residents (or nearly 751,000 people) are of Hispanic origin. The majority is of Mexican descent, with this population not just concentrated near the border (South County) but also across the City of San Diego (Barrio Logan, Southeast San Diego, Central) and the Eastern portions of North County (Escondido, Vista, San Marcos, and Carlsbad).

Of San Diego County’s Hispanic population there are now an estimated 183,500 undocumented residents, or 63% of the Mexican foreign born population in the County (6.5% of the County’s total population). ,7 8 A population of this size would not remain in San Diego County if it did not have gainful employment. The co-dependence that the regional San Diego economy and its employers have with undocumented Mexican workers is evident across the County particularly in the sectors that employ these workers the most: agriculture, construction, service, the tourism & hospitality industry and domestic employment.

Jobs alone will not keep San Diego’s migrant labor force in the region. As highlighted by research undertaken by the University of Southern California, California’s share of new immigrant arrivals dropped sharply between 1990 and 2000 compared to other regions of the country such as Texas, Georgia and North Carolina that offer would-be migrants employment opportunities coupled with more affordable housing and lower living costs.9

For those transnational Mexican migrants and their families opting to stay in San Diego County and without legal immigration status, the area’s high cost of living has contributed to a growing incidence of poverty. Those trans-border residents that legally cross the border have, in turn, enjoyed an improved standard of living with a U.S. paycheck, more affordable housing and culturally competent education and health care options in Tijuana. In this sense, the border has increasingly become a blur with poverty and relative prosperity predicated, in part, by visa or migratory status.