DescriptionSince its signing in 1994, the Chiapas region has seen significant social, political and economic changes that stem from the effects of the North American Free Trade Agreement. This paper examines the history of Chiapas before, during and after the signing of NAFTA, focusing on the forced migration of its people to the United States. The first half of the paper examines the lead up to the signing of NAFTA and how the state of Chiapas reacted afterwards, with a focus on the Zapatista Army of Liberation, the armed rebellion that arose on the same day that NAFTA went into effect. The second half of the paper examines how the economic situation in Chiapas did not improve, despite claims by the economic experts behind NAFTA that the agreement would lead to economic improvement. It also examines the increase in the forced migration of people in Chiapas to the United States, despite, once again, claims by experts that NAFTA would lead to a decrease in undocumented migration. In order to achieve this, I examined statistics of economic income by rural farmers in Chiapas and the global market, to which Chiapas is a major exporter of crops, most of which goes to the United States. The results were that there were no benefits from NAFTA that benefited farmers in Chiapas; on the contrary, due to newly created competition from U.S. farmers, farmers in Chiapas found themselves unable to compete, forcing them to migrate out of Chiapas and look for work elsewhere. In conclusion, the signing of NAFTA did not provide the benefits that it had promised to Chiapas and instead caused more economic hardship that led to people leaving and going to the United States.