But let’s take a look at that list of high-income-inequality states again. What do California, Arizona and New Mexico all have in common? I’ll give you a hint: Texas comes in seventh on the high-income-inequality state list.

That’s right: The three states with the highest income inequality also all share a border with Mexico. But what about New York? Or Georgia? Or Illinois (which is the sixth-most-unequal state)? They are all hundreds of miles away from Mexico.

Well, it turns out that all of those states have huge illegal immigrant populations too. According to the Pew Hispanic Center, every one of the top five unequal states also is among the top 10 states with high illegal immigrant populations.