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→The 20th Century
==The 20th Century==
The Mexican Revolution in 1910 soon changed what was a growing relationship between Mexico and the United States. Increasingly, citizens from the United States owned land and resources in Mexico, which likely helped lead to a the revoltand revolution in Mexico, where different classes often sided in different factions within the armed conflict. This created increasing problems between the two countries, leading the United States to enforce new acts that required a literacy test and head tax to be conducted on Mexicans entering the United Statesas the conflict in Mexico intensified. This was suspended during World War I due to labor shortages but was reimposed after. Instability in Mexico, particularly along the border, led to Francisco "Pancho" Villa to conduct a raid into the United States called the Battle of Columbus. Villa was chased by United States forces but never captured. Under intense pressure from Mexico and only the looming events of World War I led to the withdrawal of American forces. The Zimmerman Telegram, sent by Germany in World War I to bait Mexico into entering a war with the United States, also led to great suspicion. After the war, the Federal Bureau of Investigation was dispatched to the United State-Mexico border and fences were soon erected along the border. Meanwhile, the situation in the border became worse, as crime and cross-border smuggling increased, particularly during the revolution in Mexico that lasted from 1910-1920. Hostilities may have also been exacerbated by the hostilities after the Zimmerman Telegram. Increasingly, fences went up and checkpoints, which also became official points of entry after the 1920s, were established.<ref>For more on the instability in the early 20th century along the border, see: De León, A., & University of Houston (Eds.). (2011). <i>War along the border: the Mexican Revolution and Tejano communities (1st ed)</i>. College Station: Texas A&M University Press. </ref>
In the period after World War II, economic factors increasingly affected the border situation between the United States and Mexico. Although relations between the countries have considerably improved since then, what has changed is economic growth in the United States far outstripped economic growth in Mexico. This has led to increased migration from Mexico to the United States, where most migrants seek higher wages offered in the United States. Persistent economic change in Mexico has led to wide inequalities in society. Poverty is particularly acute in the Mexican countryside, leading to increased migration to the border regions. Throughout the second half of the twentieth century, migrants also came for seasonal work and others through legal migration. However, illegal migration would fluctuate, often in correlation with events in Mexico, such as ongoing violence in some regions or economic problems.<ref>For more on recent history along the border, see: Ganster, P., & Lorey, D. E. (2016).<i> The U.S.-Mexican border today: conflict and cooperation in historical perspective (Third edition)</i>. Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield. </ref>
