|
The Bracero Program: An Overview
The Bracero Program was a series of agreements between the United States and Mexico concerning the immigration of Mexican citizens to the U.S. After the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, the U.S began to seriously contemplate temporarily employing Mexican workers into the U.S agricultural sector. The U.S entry into World War II caused many American agricultural workers to move into better paying jobs in the defense industry, so bring in Mexican workers was meant to compensate for the agricultural worker shortages and aid the war effort. The Bracero Program officially started on August 4, 1942, and in the next five years, 219,000 Mexican workers were brought into the U.S (1). Most of the workers were concentrated in California, but there were braceros working in 24 states. Mexico and the U.S renewed their agreements several times in the post-war era, but the period between 1948 and 1951 was a difficult time for the program. Mexico was concerned by claims that some employers did not honor the provisions on the bracero’s contracts, that braceros were not being paid fairly. U.S citizens complained that bracero labor was detrimental to the wages and conditions of domestic workers. Tensions augmented with the El Paso incident. The implications of the incident prompted to take on an “open border policy”, where they did not attempt to stop illegal immigration. Over the course of three days, 4000 Mexicans entered the U.S without papers (2). Mexico tried to mediate the problem by sending their military to prevent more Mexicans from crossing the border. The strained relations between the U.S and Mexico subsided with the outbreak of the Korean War in 1950, as workers were yet again needed in the U.S. To entice Mexico to supply workers, there was legislation passed that would guarantee the contracts of braceros. Between 1952 and 1959, about 2.5 million braceros arrived in the U.S, a massive growth for the program (3). |
However, disputes about the program resurfaced; Mexico wanted more control over wages and the U.S continued to promote more illegal border crossings. This issue in particular lead to several bloody conflicts along the border between between workers and Mexican authorities. Eventually, the nations resolved these issues, but the damage was already done. The implementation of Operation Wetback in 1954 catalyzed the inevitable end of the Bracero Program. Another catalyst was that mechanization reduce the need for manual labor on farms significantly. Eventually, the U.S government just allowed the legislation protecting guaranteed wages expire, and the Bracero Program came to the final end.
Repercussions of Bracero Program
In light of the Bracero Program, Congress reformed its immigration laws in 1986 with the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA). IRCA aimed to provide the legalization of undocumented people in the United States (given that they met specific criteria) and employ sanctions against those who hired undocumented workers, as well as border restrictions to curb further undocumented migrations. IRCA legalized about 1.1 million individuals in the span of twenty years, but in 1988, the estimated number of undocumented workers in the U.S was still between 1.5 and 3 million (4). IRCA could not reverse the profound effect the Bracero program had had the settlement patterns on Mexicans in and out of the U.S; the program set the stage for large-scale legal and illegal Mexico-U.S migration. Many had family or ancestors involved in the Bracero program, and it was a difficult trend to overcome, as nearly 6 million Mexicans were issued immigrant visas in the 20th century (5). The sudden crack-down on undocumented workers caused about 40 million Mexicans in the U.S to be illegally apprehended, but it also inspired farmers to join or form associations that recruited and supervised fewer U.S workers, increasing worker earnings (6). Guiding Questions
Endnotes 1. Ronald Young, "Bracero Program", St. James Encyclopedia of Labor History Worldwide, 2004. 2. Ibid. 3. Ibid. 4. Muzaffar Chishti et al, "At Its 25th Anniversary, IRCA's Legacy Lives On," Migration Policy Institute, 2011. 5. Philip Martin, "The Bracero Program: Was It A Failure?" Cornell University Press, 2003. 6. Ibid |