{"id":333476,"date":"2026-06-12T10:53:12","date_gmt":"2026-06-12T10:53:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/333476\/"},"modified":"2026-06-12T10:53:12","modified_gmt":"2026-06-12T10:53:12","slug":"fronteras-why-colonias-exist-and-persist-along-the-texas-mexico-border","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/333476\/","title":{"rendered":"Fronteras: Why colonias exist and persist along the Texas-Mexico border"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>About 1,800 <a href=\"https:\/\/www.hudexchange.info\/programs\/cdbg-colonias\/colonias-history\/\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">colonias<\/a> exist in unincorporated areas along the Texas-Mexico border The vast majority of those colonias are concentrated in the Rio Grande Valley.<\/p>\n<p>These largely Latino neighborhoods and communities lack basic infrastructure and are often marked by inequities in health outcomes, income, and wages.<\/p>\n<p>The Brookings article, \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.brookings.edu\/articles\/as-border-enforcement-expands-colonia-communities-are-left-without-basic-infrastructure\/\" class=\"Link\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">As border enforcement expands, \u2018colonia\u2019 communities are left without basic infrastructure<\/a>,\u201d examines why colonias arise and persist.<\/p>\n<p>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.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cYou\u2019re already in a region that is first to experience everything last,\u201d he said. \u201cThese communities experience [this] \u2026 because of the neglect that they face, as well as the lack of attention they\u2019re receiving from the region itself.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\n            1 of 3<br \/>\n            \u00a0\u2014\u00a0colonias in the south texas border region .png\n        <\/p>\n<p>A map of colonias located in the South Texas border region. <\/p>\n<p>Brookings <\/p>\n<p>\n            2 of 3<br \/>\n            \u00a0\u2014\u00a0data colonias brookings.png\n        <\/p>\n<p>Analysis of educational attainment in Rio Grande Valley colonias.<\/p>\n<p>Brookings <\/p>\n<p>\n            3 of 3<br \/>\n            \u00a0\u2014\u00a0white-border-export-2026-06-11T13-44-42-andrik_gonzalez_headshot.jpg\n        <\/p>\n<p>Andrik Gonzales is a regional policy analyst and the co-author of the Brookings article, \u201cAs border enforcement expands, \u2018colonia\u2019 communities are left without basic infrastructure.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Courtesy \/ Andrik Gonzales<\/p>\n<p>Many colonias exist within federal border enforcement zones.<\/p>\n<p>Gonzalez, a Rio Grande Valley native, said the continued investment into border security can also be used to help colonias.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think the problem or the issue is that we have to choose one or the other,\u201d Gonzalez said. \u201cI think if we\u2019re 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.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"About 1,800 colonias exist in unincorporated areas along the Texas-Mexico border The vast majority of those colonias are&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":333477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":["post-333476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=333476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/333476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/333477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=333476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=333476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=333476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}