As you might have heard, a certain fear exists in some quarters of this land that all the illegal immigrants from Mexico are, in essence, turning the U.S. Southwest into something other than the U.S. Southwest, but rather into either a new kind of not-quite-American community or simply an extension of Mexico. There’s even a political movement that pushes this agenda. And it’s all hard work, whether you’re trekking through the heat and sand to get here, or you’re already here,and trying to get people to take your politics seriously. Perhaps there’s an easier way.

According to Bloomberg News: A rising peso andan economy growing faster than the U.S. have given some Mexicans the buyingpower to take advantage of the housing slump in Texas, which the U.S. annexedin 1845 after Texans gained independence from Mexico nine years earlier. A three-year war followed and ended with Mexico ceding about half its territory, including Arizona, Nevada and California, to the U.S. under an 1848 treaty.

The peso has gained 5.9 percent against the dollar since the beginning of the year. The Mexican currency today was little changed, slipping less than 1 centavo to10.2952 pesos per dollar at 9:43 a.m. New York time. The economy, which rose 2.6 percent in the first quarter from a year ago, is expected to grow 2.6 percent this year, according to a central bank survey of 31 economists in May. The U.S. economy is forecast to grow 1.4 percent in 2008, according to a Bloomberg survey of 57 economists.

Marco Ramirez ofMcAllen, Texas, is among those trying to sell foreclosed Texas homes to Mexicans. Ramirez's company, called Now! Co., has bought 32 Texas properties and has options on 88 more. His best prospects are Mexican buyers, especially in Monterrey, 150 miles from the Texas border, he said.

``Many of these people have children who are studying in the U.S.,'' Ramirez said. ``They've been renting or leasing and now it's a great time to buy.''

Okay, so reconquering America house-by-house isn’t on the agenda of most of these well-to-do Mexicans. They’re just looking for a good investment, or a nicer place to live. They’re not going to find either of those things in Mexican towns and cities where, rising peso be damned, drug cartels, contract killers, freelance kidnappers, ex-military hit men, and other entrepreneurs are slaughtering people at an escalating rate.

The slump in demand pulled down the median price of an existing U.S. home in April to $202,300 from $219,900 a year ago, accordingto the association.

While Texas hasn'tbeen hit as hard as California and Florida, where the housing boom drove up prices the most, existing home sales in Texas fell 12 percent from a year ago in the first quarter.

Foreclosures inTexas rose 29 percent in the first quarter from a year earlier, with one of every 274 households in the foreclosure process, according to RealtyTrac Inc.,a seller of default data based in Irvine, California. The Texas foreclosure rate ranked 17th in the nation, according to RealtyTrac.

(Monterrey developer and investor) Virgillo Garza and other Mexicans with money to investbelieve the time is right to buy, Ramirez said. ``These are very sophisticated businessmen,'' he said. ``They realize what's going on in our country.Everybody needs cash right now and Monterrey has lots and lots of cash.''

Victor Gonzalez,48, who owns a Monterrey print shop that employs 40 people, wants to use hissavings to buy a $250,000 house in a gated community in the South Texas community of Mission.

``This is exactly what we've been looking for,'' said Gonzalez, who was wearing a black Harley-DavidsonT-shirt. ``We're ready to go.'' He said the price is $50,000 less than he expected he would have to pay.

Gonzalez said he plans to turn over the shop to his children in five years and retire to Mission, wherethe traffic is lighter and the crime rate lower.

The point isn’t to sound the alarm against Mexicans with money, or try to stop the sales. Compared with 12 million other Mexicans already in the U.S., a handful of homes do not add up too much.

The point is that whether rich or poor, legal or illegal, America and Mexico are too close, and too closely tied together, for anyone to believe that a law or a wall is going to stop the border from changing what happens far beyond that any line drawn in the dirt. It is up to us to decide how we will deal with that changing reality and direct it, while we still have the power to do so.