What if the counties along the US/Mexico border were the 51st state?

azcentral.com has a very enlightening article entitled "Growth, problems in border counties dramatic."

The first paragraph just reaches out and grabs you by the throat.

If the 24 counties along the nation's Southwest border were a 51st
state, it would rank first in federal crimes, second in tuberculosis
and near the bottom in education, per capita income and access to
health care.

Read the whole thing.