Alisa Hagen. This agreement was designed to increase the labor force in Mexico, increase profitability of American companies, and decrease the cost of manufacturing goods by reducing or eliminating tariffs on exported items USDA, After the signing of NAFTA, a swarm of American-based companies made a beeline towards the border, hoping to get rich quick on cheap labor and few environmental restrictions.
DOS, However, countless reports of environmental dumping, long working hours, and low pay dominate news reports and interviews in and around Nogales.
Furthermore, the increased attention paid to U. The ongoing battle between enforcement agencies, the War on Drugs, and the immigrants stuck between has escalated countless times to violence, corruption, and broken dreams. This research paper will explore the changes that Nogales, Mexico has undergone in the past thirty years leading up to and after the implementation of NAFTA.
Despite the presence of foreign-based factories prior to the signing, there is little doubt that this arrangement has paved the way for negative collateral damage that has scarred both the faces of the land and those that occupy it. Beginning with a brief look at an example of an American-born company that closed its doors to move south for cheap labor, this paper will then describe three main ways in which the maquiladoras system has directly altered Nogales, Mexico and similar communities.
The first is the living condition resultant of the thousands of poor Mexican laborers flocking to the border to work and strive to feed their families. The second way is seen through environmental degradation of water supplies, food and air cleanliness, and toxic poisoning that is arguably the leading cause of cancer rates in and around factory towns. The third and final way that Nogales, Mexico has been affected by this influx of people is seen in the behavior of the youth of Nogales, as the growing population while young themselves are unable to control their children, contributing to the juvenile delinquency and gang activity prevailing in the underground tunnel systems.
