NAFTA has forced many of Mexico's poor to emigrate

Vendors in one of Oaxaca City's markets report that they struggle to cover living expenses with family income. (photo by Jordan Green)

By Gail Phares

NAFTA, an agreement between the United States, Canada and Mexico, went into effect in 1994. We were told that NAFTA would decrease poverty, increase employment and reduce immigration. The opposite has occurred.

NAFTA policies combined with the Mexican government’s declining support to small and middle-level farmers, has thrown the farming sector into crisis. In the past 15 years, more than 2 million corn farmers have been bankrupted and forced to leave their families and communities. Emigrating north to the United States, many have come to the North Carolina.

NAFTA has resulted in the loss of millions of jobs, wage stagnation, and poor treatment of workers. For many, the only possible solution is migration to the United States. Currently there is no way for most poor Mexicans to legally emigrate to the United States. Once they arrive in the United States there are very limited rights for undocumented workers.

We believe that it is in the United States’ best interest to support economic development in Mexico to decrease poverty, increase employment and thus reduce the need to emigrate to the United States.

We urge President Obama and the US Congress to move towards the renegotiation of CAFTA and NAFTA as soon as possible and pass humane and just immigration laws.

Gail Phares is a founder of Witness for Peace. She lives in Raleigh, NC.