 While Hispanics have long been a major factor in Texas, millions more have arrived there and in other Southern states in recent years.Historian Raymond Mohl emphasizes the role of NAFTA in lowering trade barriers and facilitating large-scale population movements.He adds other factors such as the ongoing economic crisis in Mexico, more liberal immigration policies in the United States, labor recruitment, and smuggling that have produced a major flow of Mexican and Hispanic migration to the Southeast.