The Bracero Program
In a time of war, President Franklin D. Roosevelt was faced with the difficult position of remembering the great Depression and wanting to avoid the same turmoil as in the past. The United States was in need of workers in the fields as agriculture played a big part in US economics. As Americans, both men and women were off fighting in the war and the U.S. was in need of workers.
The Bracero program started with good intentions. It was a program set in place to bring in temporary workers into America under a contract. An agreement was signed on July 23, 1942, between the United States and the Mexican government that stated that these workers would receive basic human rights, housing, and fair wages for their work in the US.
This law was further formalized in 1951. Contracts were made with these workers stating that they had a right to work on the farms as long as it was deemed necessary. Living and transportation expenses would be provided. When the war ended many of these workers were sent back to Mexico for Americans to take back their places.
As time passed living standards and human rights were no longer the main focus for this program but rather efficient and cheap labor. The Braceros were passed through contract centers where they were interviewed and put through a medical process to then be granted entry into the United States.
Most of these workers didn’t protest what was happening and instead believed that these conditions were better than the ones that they faced in Mexico. Their pay may have been mediocre in the United States but it was better than the one that many would have had back home.
In early 1960 the Bracero was once again brought to the table where it was brought to attention that they were affecting the wages of American workers and taking the labor of Americans. On Dec 31, 1964, the program came to an end but that didn't mean that the Braceros went back to Mexico. Many stayed through the negative feelings towards them, while many left without the true fulfillment of the original contract that was first set in place.
I believe that this program was beneficial to the United States as it provided support for the economy. I believe that the way they went about it was immoral and against human rights, yet putting the time period in perspective it is easy to see why the contract was violated as these workers were not looked at as humans but rather as property that one could easily exploit.
Links:
https://news.ucsc.edu/2013/01/harvest-of-loneliness.html
https://reimaginingmigration.org/the-bracero-program-1942-1964/
I agree that though the Bracero program was in many ways not human rights friendly, it was understandable given the attitude at the time. The program was begun as a means to exploit cheap, foreign human labor and the immigrant dream. To me, I see that goal of exploitation as the reason why popular support turned against the program after the end of WW2. Though in name these Mexican workers had initially received rights, they were still foreigners, and were no longer considered American once their usefulness was outlived.
ReplyDeleteWhile I can undestand why one might say that the Bracero program seemingly started with good intentions I just don't really fully agree. I think that the way it happened really the Mexican workers were exloited from the very start because the United States simply needed a labor force. It didn't start with good intentions to try to help these people but rather just so that the US could have more people and so that whie their Americans were off fighting in the war their at home production did not come to a halt. I think that it should have been an ogffer to Mexicans to come to the U.'S and for a bit of time they will have ecnomoci suport so they can themselves gt accustomed to this new life in the United States and then continue to sustain themselves and their families.
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