Atlas of Hispanic-American History

NAFTA and Illegal

Immigration

As discussed in the previous chapter, the

North American Free Trade Agreement

(NAFTA), which eliminated most trade

barriers between the three countries, went

into effect in 1994. In the decade and a

half since NAFTA’s appearance, the trade

agreement has faced widespread criticism.

Labor unions in the United States argued

that the agreement has cost millions of

American workers their jobs as factories

have shutdown at home and moved to

Mexico. Environmentalists had argued

that looser environmental laws in Mexico

has led to a rise in pollution in the border

region. Indigenous peoples in southern

Mexico have risen up against new social

tensions that NAFTA and economic

reforms have brought to their land.

While proponents of NAFTA argued

that the agreement would help bring the

benefits of free trade to Mexico, many

studies have found that the agreement

had the unintended effect of pushing ille-

gal immigrants north to the United States

at an unprecedented level. In the first

decade after the agreement was signed,

millions of Mexican farmers have been

forced off their land, unable to compete

with cheap American farm commodities

flooding the Mexican market. Some esti-

mates suggest that as many as 1.7 million

Mexican subsistence farmers have migrat-

ed north to work in border region

maquiladorasor in the fields and cities of

the United States. Some NAFTA critics

estimate that as many as 15 million may

end up displaced by NAFTA, with about

five million projected to eventually head

of the United States.

In Mexico itself, free-market reforms

have led to severe government cutbacks.

In the first seven years under NAFTA

alone, the Mexican government slashed

220 ATLAS OF HISPANIC-AMERICAN HISTORY

THE MINUTEMEN

As the federal government has been debating the best method of containing illegal

immigration from Mexico and elsewhere in Latin America, the flow of migration has

continued. Frustrated by the federal response, anti-immigration activists Jim Gilchrist

and Chris Simcox cofounded an organization in early 2005 known as the Minuteman

Project. (In December 2005, the organization split in a dispute over funding, with

Gilchrist forming the Minuteman Project, Inc. and Simcox forming the Minuteman Civil

Defense Corps.)

The Minutemen monitor the United States–Mexico border’s flow of illegal immi-

grants. While some carry weapons, their stated purpose is to “provide law enforcement

agencies with incriminating evidence of deliberate violations of state or federal immi-

gration, tax or employment law.” Calling itself “a citizens’ Neighborhood Watch on our

border,” the group was won both praise and condemnation as vigilantes. Soon after

the group was founded, California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger praised group,

saying it had been doing “a terrific job” and welcoming Minutemen to patrol the bor-

der between California and Mexico. On the other hand, the Southern Poverty Law

Center has condemned the Minuteman Project and its local chapters as an extreme

nativist group and the Anti-Defamation League has noted that Neo-Nazi and white

supremacist groups have worked alongside the Minutemen although there is no offi-

cial known connection between the groups.

Relations between the Minutemen and the federal government is mixed. Although

President George W. Bush has declared his opposition to “vigilante” border patrols,

the official stance of the U.S. Border Patrol is that it “continues to appreciate the efforts

of civilians who contact law enforcement authorities regarding suspicious activity.”

Married parent, 45%

Single, no children, 37%

Married, no children, 12%

Unmarried parent, 6%

Marital Status and Family Type of Migrant Workers