States foreign policy in Latin America

This chapter focuses on cross-border flows, both legal and illegal, between the U.S. and Latin America. People, goods, and services—from immigrants to automobiles to cocaine—all move between the countries of Latin America and the U.S. The wealth of the U.S., as well as its relative security and relatively high wages and standard of living, attract migration and business opportunities. In other words, some of the same forces that lead the U.S. to maintain a trade deficit with Latin America also make the U.S. a destination for immigrants as well as illicit drugs originating south of the border.