Each One Teach One #1

Erin Savoia

I chose to create an infographic explaining the relationship between NAFTA and immigration into the United States from Mexico. NAFTA (the North American Free

Trade Agreement) was signed into law January of 1994. Proponents of the agreement assured critics that it would improve the U.S. economy while stimulating Mexico’s.

Supporters argued that it would allow cheap foreign products to be imported to the U.S. from Mexico, boosting the Mexican economy in the name of globalization. The newly stimulated Mexican economy would then in turn expand the Mexican job market, leading to less immigration to the United States. However, as it turns out, NAFTA has benefited

American corporations while oppressing Mexican workers. This is reflective of the notion that “opportunities for economic advance, as they present themselves serially to one [actor] after another, do not constitute equivalent opportunities for economic advance for all” (Arrighi, Silver, and Brewer, 2007, p.325). In other words, the trade agreement was set up to benefit those already in power (American corporations) while taking advantage of those with less power (Mexican workers).

I find it worth commenting on that in 1994, the same year NAFTA was implemented, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) launched Operation

Gatekeeper. Operation Gatekeeper militarized the U.S./Mexico border, increasing the number of border patrol agents and reinforcing the wall with new technology. It was made nearly impossible to cross the border through San Diego, California, forcing desperate migrants to cross through the desert in much more treacherous conditions. It strikes me as indicative of the realization that the U.S. government had about the negative effects that NAFTA would have on the Mexican economy, even as they claimed the agreement would lower immigration rates. NAFTA is a huge player in the push and pull of Mexican immigrants across the U.S./Mexico border. References

Bybee, R., Winter, C. (2006, April 25). Immigration Flood Unleashed by NAFTA’s

Disastrous Impact on Mexican Economy. Common Dreams. Retrieved from

http://www.commondreams.org/views06/0425-30.htm

Ensinger, D. (2011, February 5). Illegal Immigration and NAFTA. Economy in Crisis.

Retrieved from http://economyincrisis.org/content/illegal-immigration-and-nafta

Robbins, T. (2013, December 26). Wave Of Illegal Immigrants Gains Speed After

NAFTA. NPR. Retrieved from http://www.npr.org/2013/12/26/257255787/wave-

of-illegal-immigrants-gains-speed-after-nafta

Wallace, A., Kretman M., & Strogatz, S. (2008). NAFTA Overview and Its Effect on

Undocumented Immigration. Retrieved from

http://www.umich.edu/~ac213/student_projects07/global/nafta.html