Most on-going research on the U.S.-Mexican Border region is in the major content areas of political structure and urbanization, disaster relief, law enforcement, and self-identity studies. Political interaction contrasts the centrally controlled power structures of Mexico with the more complex economic and social structures of the United States. Disaster relief studies reflect the impersonal welfare structure of the U.S. compared with Mexican kinship-oriented assistance. Studies of legal enforcement reveal that coordination between the 2 countries is effective through personal relationships and informal agreements rather than formal legal procedures. The newly-arrived immigrant faces an acculturational conflict between the informal kinship system of Mexico and the formal bureaucratic structures of the United States. Comparative studies must be translated into concrete programs if opportunities for self-betterment are to be provided to our Mexican neighbors and to Mexican-American citizens. (JH)