NAFTA hurt this area a lot --except for a few people who were already doing okay before NAFTA anyhow. What NAFTA did here was to immediately send out 12,000 seamtresses jobs (in this area) to Mexico leaving many non-English speaking people without jobs. One big problem with NAFTA is that the jobs over there pay about $3 a day and Mexicans aren't stupid and know getting over here will still get them a better life than $3 a day ever will, even if they can't get a job they'll do better here. For the 38% people on the border with no high school diploma or GED or Spanish GED, they have the exact same skills and education as the people in Mexico who will get their jobs partly because the minimum wage is so much lower. None returned to Mexico to keep their jobs which shows it's not really a free market for jobs.
For some reason good jobs are also leaving the area. I've read that's due to the lack of skills and low education levels ---so we've lost the good jobs and low paying jobs.