How Does NAFTA Affecting America's Immigration Rate
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Although not being an immigration law, few other U.S. policies were as crucial for the massive influx of Mexican Immigrants as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), which became effective in 1994. As indicated earlier, NAFTA was responsible for the economical ruin of millions of Mexican farmers and their families. In the first six years after NAFTA, the number of Mexican immigrants more than doubled, "from 370,000 in 1993 (the year before NAFTA) to 770,000 in 2000" , an increase of 108 percent.
Besides this, several immigration policies had an unintended impact on America's immigration rate. While congress tried to stop further unauthorized immigration, especially since the 1980s, increased legal efforts have not contained it.