Mexico–United States Border facts for kids

The border between the United States and Mexico spans four U.S. states, six Mexican states, and has over twenty commercial railroad crossings.

Border at Tijuana (right) and southern California (left)

The United States–Mexico border is the international border between the United States and Mexico.

It runs from Imperial Beach, California, and Tijuana, Baja California, in the west to Matamoros, Tamaulipas, and Brownsville, Texas, in the east. It covers a variety of terrains, ranging from major urban areas to inhospitable deserts.

From the Gulf of Mexico it follows the course of the Rio Grande (Río Bravo del Norte) to the border crossing at El Paso, Texas, and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua. Westward from there it crosses vast tracts of the Sonoran and Chihuahuan Desert. Then it crosses the Colorado River Delta, west to San Diego and Tijuana before reaching the Pacific Ocean. The US-Mexican border is considered an open border.

The border's total length is 3,169 km (1,969 mi), according to figures given by the International Boundary and Water Commission. It is the most frequently crossed international border in the world, with approximately three hundred fifty million (350,000,000) crossings per year.

Images for kids

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  The current border was originally decided after the Mexican–American War (1846–1848). Most of the border is settled on the Rio Grande River on the border of Texas and northeastern Mexico. To the left lies San Diego, California and on the right is Tijuana, Baja California. The building in the foreground on the San Diego side is a sewage treatment plant built to clean the Tijuana River.

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  United States Border Patrol at Algodones Sand Dunes, California, USA. The fence on the US-Mexican border is a special construction of narrow, 15 feet (4.6 m) tall elements, that are movable vertically. This way, they can be lifted on top of the ever shifting sand dunes.

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  Map of Mexico in 1842

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  San Diego together with Tijuana creates the bi-national San Diego–Tijuana metropolitan area.

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  El Paso (left) and Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua (right), taken on June 30, 2022 from the International Space Station with north oriented towards the bottom-left side. The Rio Grande appears as a thin line separating the two cities through the middle of the photograph. El Paso and Juarez make up the third largest U.S. international metroplex after Detroit–Windsor and San Diego-Tijuana.

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  Vehicle barrier in the New Mexico desert 2010

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  Climbing the Mexico–United States barrier fence in Brownsville, Texas

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  Going into Mexico from El Paso, Texas, U.S.

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  San Ysidro Port of Entry through vehicle.

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  The San Ysidro border crossing between San Diego and Tijuana

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  Passport stamp upon arrival in Tijuana, Baja California land border crossing.

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  The Big Bend National Park is located at the Border.

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  Border Patrol agents in southern Texas in 2013.

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  Border for pedestrians in Tijuana, Baja California

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  US Border Patrol agents review documents of individuals suspected of attempted illegal entry in 2019.

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  Nogales border fence.

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  United States-Mexico-border-wall-Progreso-Lakes-Texas.

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  A volunteer from the Humane Border group is refilling water stations located on the desert of the U.S.-Mexico border.

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  Mexicans crossing the Río Grande face the Big Bend National Park.

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  Members of the North Carolina Army National Guard monitoring the U.S.–Mexico border in southwest Arizona.

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  Federal courthouse in Tucson, AZ, where Operation Streamline proceedings take place.

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  Mexico-US border wall at Tijuana, Mexico.

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  Entrance into Mexico at Nogales, AZ (USA).

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  Border Patrol patrolling the Rio Grande in an airboat in Laredo, Texas.

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  The start of the border fence in the state of New Mexico—just west of El Paso, Texas.

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  U.S. Border Patrol helicopter along El Camino del Diablo, Arizona–Sonora border, 2004.

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  Border between Nogales, Arizona, on the left, and Nogales, Sonora, on the right.

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  On the left: Nogales, Arizona; on the right, Nogales, Sonora.

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  Beach in Tijuana at the border in 2006.

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  A CBP Border Patrol vehicle sitting near Mexico–U.S. border.

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  View of Cross Border Xpress (CBX) bridge from parking lot on U.S. side, with Tijuana Airport on the left and the CBX U.S. terminal on the right.

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  The U.S.–Mexico border fence near El Paso, Texas.

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  Portion of border near Jacumba, California, in 2003.

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  Portion of border near Jacumba, California, in 2009 with enhanced security.