Introduction
The program, known as the Bracero
Program, began when the United States signed the Mexican Farm Labor Program
Agreement with Mexico on August 4, 1942 (Koestler). The Spanish word bracero
translates to “one who works using his arms,” which would be equivalent to a
manual laborer (Ruiz). This was “the first among several agreements aimed at
legalizing and controlling Mexican migrant farm workers along the southern
border of the United States” (Koestler). The program was managed by the
Department of Agriculture and several other agencies through the years it
existed. Initially the program was meant to be a temporary solution to supply
workers for the labor shortage caused by World War II. The labor shortage was
caused by the expansion of U.S. forces from 1,801,101 men in 1941 to 3,858,791
men in 1942 as seen on Table 2 (“BY THE NUMBERS…”). When looking at Table 1 a
trend of the United States expanding its military forces can be seen as the war
continued. Moreover, the terms of the agreement guaranteed a minimum wage of
thirty cents an hour and humane treatment. The humane treatment should have
encompassed sufficient living conditions (shelter, sanitation, food, etc.) for
the Mexican workers while they were in the United States. “The Bracero Program
offered Mexicans wanting to work in the United States the opportunity to do so
legally. Bracero contracts quickly became valued commodities in the Mexican
countryside, where underemployed Mexican campesinos once again hoped that work
in the United states would provide sustenance in Mexico” (Hernandez, 110).
The Korean War was also said to create the necessity of additional manpower. In 1951 the program was revised under Public Law 78, as a temporary solution (Koestler). This allowed for Mexico to renegotiate the terms of the agreement with the United States. These renegotiations guaranteed “burial expenses, assistance in negotiation of labor contracts, and a guarantee that employers would return workers to reception centers at the expiration of the contract” (Koestler). This temporary law was extended in 1954, 1956, 1958, 1961, and 1964 (Koestler), because the Mexican agricultural workers were seen as a supply of cheap labor. These laborers “have been pawns to a host of economic, political, social, and humanitarian interests” (Koestler). They had to endure poor wages, malnutrition, lack sanitation, and discrimination. “Largely because of the exclusion of Chinese workers from the American labor market beginning in 1882, the United States, and especially certain industries in the Southwest and West, faced a labor shortage. For more than two decades, Japanese immigrants filled this void, but when that flow was cut off in 1907, Mexican immigrants were recruited to replace them” (Gomez, 140). This shows how when the United States faces a labor shortage due to events like a change in immigration law or public perception it looks to its next best source of labor. In this case, since American laborers were in short demand, at least originally, Mexican laborers replaced them and remained because they were a cheap source of labor. More than 4.5 million braceros had entered the United States between 1942 and 1964 (can be seen in Table 1) (Koestler). Even though the Immigration Reform Control Act of 1986 provided legal status to people who resided and worked in the United States by the first of January 1982 (Koestler), many illegals continue to be hired and exploited. This website will look at the legality of the Bracero Program, how it dehumanized its participants, and how they were exploited.
This video provides a brief overview of the injustices the participants of the Bracero Program had to endure.
About the Author
I am in my senior year at San Diego
State University. Even though I am majoring in Biology I have always loved
history, more specifically history of wars the United States have been involved
in. I have passed a test in United States and Mexico Border History showing I
am proficient in the field. I first heard of the Bracero program my junior year
in two differing fields of my general education classes. The first class I
heard about the Bracero program was an American history course. The teacher
mentioned it briefly in a lecture on the Chicano movement and touched on some
of the injustices that had occurred during the Bracero Program. The very next
semester I again heard about the Bracero Program, this time in Geography of
Food where the teacher went more in-depth. She spent two days lecturing and
showing videos of the injustices done to them. This interested me and left me
wanting to know more about the topic; however, things got busy at school and
neglected doing further research. So when I had the opportunity to write a
paper and create a website that allowed me to dig further into the matter I had
to choose it as my topic.