The relationship between Mexico-U.S. economic integration and international migration under NAFTA

Abstract

This article analyzes the new dynamics within Mexican labor migrations to the United States in the context of the economic integration of the two countries which is taking place with the introduction ofneoliberal policies and, particularly, under the influence of NAFTA. It argues that Mexican workers play a fundamental role in the industrial restructuring of the United States and that this role has triggered a series of contradictions; these, in turn, threaten the viability of the process and create an urgent need for a rethinking of Mexico’s development model and of the policies currently governing migration and development. To this end, it offers a critique of the Mexican export model, analyzes the dialectic that exists between economic integration and international migration, and questions the prevailing outlook that underlies public policy.