In Mexico, People Do Really Want to Stay - (NAFTA related)

“NAFTA, as the landmark trade agreement is known, was supposed to work the other way around. In the early 1990s, as politicians in the three countries of North America sold the pact, they promised it would spur enough development in Mexico to create millions of jobs, raise wages and diminish the lure of the north.

But since 1994, the year NAFTA took effect, Mexicos economy has grown sluggishly. Not enough jobs have materialized, while Mexicos working-age population has swelled. Meanwhile, the United States has been a magnet for Mexican laborers willing to take on low-paying, unpleasant work.

More than 6.2 million Mexicans now live in the United States illegally, according to Mexicos National Council of Population. Two-thirds arrived after NAFTA.”

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