Märkte, Migration, Maquiladoras: Auswirkungen des Freihandels auf Migrationsprozesse aus regionaler Perspektive (Tijuana/San Diego)

Abstract: Migration was not a topic during the negotiation process of the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in the early 1990s, but it was and still is an important issue in the public debate on the trade agreement and its impact. High representatives of the Mexican and US governments, besides various migration experts underlined the role of NAFTA as a means to reduce migration flows from Mexico to the US. The argument seemed to be easy: market opening means economic growth, economic growth means employment, employment creates personal satisfaction, i.e. people will not be interested any more in leaving their country. Some quoted the example of the European Union, where former emigration countries like Spain, Portugal and Greece turned into immigration countries due to integration-induced economic growth. On January 1st, 2001 the NAFTA-Treaty celebrated its 7th anniversary. Restrictions in the free flow of capital, goods and services have almost disappeared. On the other hand, free movement for people is still a long way off. The more so since the US-Border Patrol implemented border enforcement operations such as the Operation Gatekeeper in the 1990s, building fences between the neighbouring countries and increasing technological equipment of the agency. But the flow from the South could not be stopped. People keep trying to get over the new wall, more and more migrants lose their lives because they are forced to cross borders in dangerous desert or mountain regions. The central question of this study is to analyse the impacts of the radical change in Mexico’s economic policy (towards market opening and integration) on processes of internal and international migration. The first three chapters provide an overview on the theoretical debate on this issue, on the historical development of the migration relationship MexicoUSA and on the groundwork of economic development in Mexico. The next step is a short analysis of the NAFTA-Treaty and its impact on the agrarian and electronic sectors in Mexico (especially looking at the Maquiladora industry). The main chapter then analyses the regional impacts of market opening in the border region Tijuana/San Diego, looking at the fast-growing Maquiladora industry and at the quantitative and qualitative development of domestic and international migration to and through Tijuana. Extracts from interviews with Maquila-workers and migrants give an insight into personal experiences with these problems.