Water is and has been an issue in the "American West" for decades. That's not going to change.

Talking about it in Palm Springs kind of high lights that it is a big issue. IIRC, Palm Springs has historically had more water available than elsewhere.

As far as the chance for unrest in Mexico spilling over the border, I think it's not that likely. People who immigrate have a whole different set of issues to deal with than those who stay behind. However, I do hope they get a grip on the issues, because I don't think we want a failed state on our border. If your neighbor's yard is a mess, it doesn't do much for your property values. It also will hurt our trade, as Mexico is on of the principal markets to which we export, although much of that may be goods made here to be shipped there for assembly and then sent back to the U.S. for sale here. But stopping that is not likely to help us in the short term.

Immigration as a whole might be a darn good thing for our economy. H.S. Dent predicted the current downturn, some would say, back in the 1990's based on demographics. His theory is that the peak spending years are basically those from a person's mid-40s into their 50s. His prediction is based on that group of people now diminishing, because the baby boomers have all reached it, and those now entering that age-group are fewer in number each year. To some extent, he thinks immigration can adjust for lower numbers of people. See: http://www.hsdent.com/class-3-birth-rate-and-the-immigration-adjusted-birth-index/

From my thinking, it might be too late for imigration to have a real effect on this, because you are probably not going to let people in of the right ages and spending patterns. But, that's just me thinking about this theory, and I've not done any real analysis.