No one can argue with a straight face that a Mexican working a Ford assembly-line south of our border is making the same amount of money that he would polishing hubcaps in Mexico City. In other words, a higher-paying job (in respect to the local wage-rate) has been created.
My point is that one cannot argue that we are losing these high-paying jobs to Mexico because of NAFTA, and simultaneously claim that illegal immigration to the U.S. is increasing because NAFTA is reducing Mexican wages, or otherwise adversely affecting Mexican employment.
NAFTA may not be reducing wages in Mexico, but it isn't increasing them very much either. Again, why would anyone want to stay in Mexico and earn $2.00 an hour when he can come to the US and make at least $5.50 or more with all kinds of free taxpayer subsidized benefits? In that sense, NAFTA has been a total failure and has done nothing to stop illegal immigration.
What good are higher-paying jobs if the cost of living has become outrageous there?