This statement is definately an understatement. The colonias I visited in South Texas a few years ago was simply a large collection of old mover's Van-Pac household goods storage boxes set in the middle of a cotton field. The boxes had windows cut in the sides for ventilation. There was only dirt streets, no running water, and no sewerage facilities. I cannot speak to the obvious human health risks that exist in association with colonias, but I could say much about the risks to American agriculture that exist from open southern borders.
Muleteam1
When I was five, we had to move from our rented house to the country where we had only an outhouse for bathroom facilities and a pump just off the kitchen outdoors; a stockpot was kept filled on the counter overnight to use for priming the pump each morning and, in the winter, it had to brought to a boil before carrying it outside to pour down the gravy boat-shaped throat to thaw the leather plunger diaphragm.
We did have gas and electricity and heated the rooms with small ceramic elements mounted in rows over a jetted pipe mounted in a compact metal stand.
We would place the Christmas tree adjacent to the one in the living room at Christmas to fool Santa Claus.
But I outgrew Santa Claus and I haven't a clue how to dig a well, but I'm sure that when the time returns that I need one I will be able to hire cheap labor.