Interesting. There was an episode on This American Life a few years ago about a Mexican-American couple. He had been in the US illegally and he had to leave and wait for ten years before he could come back legally even though they had married in the US. So they moved to Ciudad Juarez. He's working at a local factory, she's commuting to El Paso every day. IIRC they weren't entirely happy with their situation but they didn't complain either.