Although human-rights groups on both sides of the border have attacked the working conditions in maquiladoras, Ruffo said the only problem that draws his immediate attention is the practice of forcing female applicants to prove they are not pregnant before signing on. He said human rights monitoring was necessary, but thought economics would take care of most problems. I don't think I would last very long there. The company itself should examine these cases to improve productivity. Their primary effect is positive.
Many maquiladoras currently lack personnel due to low wages and difficult conditions.
For some, the temptation of being just across the border from the world's wealthiest nation is too great a pull to resist. The INS budget for 2001 is 4.3 billion dollars, triple what it was at the onset of the Clinton administration. That is more effective than Gatekeeper. Operation Gatekeeper, a 1994 border-patrol initiative, caused a 67 percent increase in border apprehensions from its inception in 1994 to 2000. Critics, however, charge it did not stem migrant flows but simply diverted them to more dangerous crossings, causing 1,437 migrant deaths during the same period.