The Border Symbiosis

The blue jalopy creaks and groans, its bumper nearly scraping the roadway of the Good Neighbor Bridge, which spans the Rio Grande between El Paso and Ciudad Juarez. The driver has given 29 fellow Mexicans a free lift south because he can bring five cartons of cigarettes into Mexico for each passenger in his car. Next comes a pickup carrying six teenage Mexican girls, all trim in their red vests. They are returning to Juarez from their classes at a Roman Catholic girls school in El Paso. Behind them is Yolanda Rivas, who is heading home after an eight-hour shift in...