About 1,800 colonias exist in unincorporated areas along the Texas-Mexico border The vast majority of those colonias are concentrated in the Rio Grande Valley.
These largely Latino neighborhoods and communities lack basic infrastructure and are often marked by inequities in health outcomes, income, and wages.
The Brookings article, “As border enforcement expands, ‘colonia’ communities are left without basic infrastructure,” examines why colonias arise and persist.
Article co-author and regional policy analyst Andrik Gonzalez said colonias suffer hazardous conditions because of a lack of local, state, and federal regulations in these areas.
“You’re already in a region that is first to experience everything last,” he said. “These communities experience [this] … because of the neglect that they face, as well as the lack of attention they’re receiving from the region itself.”
Many colonias exist within federal border enforcement zones.
Gonzalez, a Rio Grande Valley native, said the continued investment into border security can also be used to help colonias.
“I don’t think the problem or the issue is that we have to choose one or the other,” Gonzalez said. “I think if we’re willing to spend this much money in regards to border enforcement, then we need to start paying attention to the communities not too far from that apparatus.”
