I'm afraid you're right, they seem to want to romanticize Mexico and the entire illegal migration. I've been down there 3 times. Not a bad place to visit, but I don't want to live in Mexico.
It depends on where you go. You can go to the tourist areas and think it's all luxury hotels and nice beaches. You can go to the Zona Rosa and see the opulence and wealth. But you can travel around ---- get out to the outskirts of Mexico City and you're eyes will be opened. Or stay closer to the border --- take a tour of the outskirts of Ciudad Juarez --- or take a high way trip down to Chihuahua and literally see people living out of cardboard boxes. Not homeless bums like you could find in the USA --- but families of many young children.