With the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) looming large and imminent, the authors of this book explore the socio-economic fabric of the U.S.-Mexico border region as a measure of NAFTA’s future. Crisis on the Rio Grande presents the social and economic history, as well as the potential, of the Lower Rio Grande Valley on the Texas-Mexico border. The authors discuss issues of poverty, colonias, the maquiladora industry, border migration, and NAFTA’s potential impact on the economy, infrastructure, and environment of the border region. This timely study will interest economists, policy analysts, U.S.-Mexico border region specialists, and students of the North American Free Trade Agreement.