In Mexico, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton caused a bit of a stir by saying that part of Mexico’s problems are caused by the United States. Mexico’s current crisis — the drug gangs waging open war against the government — is fueled by the seemingly insatiable demand for illegal drugs in the United States, and that provides the Mexican gangs with significant money. (We can disregard the myth that a significant amount of the drug gangs’ weaponry comes from the U.S.)

In some sense, Hillary’s right. Many of Mexico’s problems can be traced to its sharing a border with a much wealthier population that officially denies itself the things it craves. That paradox creates a demand for an underground economy, and one that poverty-stricken Mexicans have been more than willing to nurture. We in the United States have been, largely, willing to turn a blind eye to that.

However, Secretary Clinton’s statement is only half the story. Just as a lot of Mexico’s problems can be traced to the United States, so too can a lot of our problems be traced to Mexico.

In less-developed nations, the underclass is a constant problem. They are a net drain on resources and a constant threat of unrest.

Mexico has found an ingenious solution to this problem, and has turned that liability into an asset: it simply exports its underclass to the United States. Once here, they find under-the-table jobs and send money back to their families in Mexico; such payments are a significant portion of Mexico’s GDP.

The problems that creates the United States — undercutting the wages of Americans and legal aliens, identity theft, fraud, and the host of crimes that go along with living in the U.S. illegally — are simply not Mexico’s concern. And the dangers posed by virtually unrestricted illegal immigration — if we can’t keep poor workers out, how can we expect to keep out terrorists, drugs, or weapons? —  are a constant source of political strife.

There is a simple solution to both nation’s problems. All it would take to ease the problems caused by unregulated traffic across the border — in both directions — is staunch enforcement of existing laws and taking border security seriously. If that was coupled with a general easing of immigration and other cross-border traffic laws, the result would be a boon to everyone: more legal crossings, fewer illegal ones.

Unfortunately, that’s too simple a solution. Both sides decry the problems caused by illegal border crossings, but also depend on them. So we can count on no major changes on the border. Oh, there’ll be lots of rhetoric and bluster and bombast, but in the end it will be sound and fury, signifying nothing.