behind the
Bracero Program, with lax enforcement of minimum wages and
Farmers accelerated mechanization of the production of tomatoes, sugar beets, and cotton after the
bracero exclusion.
The 'point of view of the
bracero is to never want to remain a
bracero but for the shortest period of their life as possible' (Romero Moliner 1949: 42).
First, the number of H-2A guest workers could continue to increase, returning some of US agriculture to labor conditions of the
Bracero era, when foreign guest workers lived on the farms where they worked and dominated workforces in particular crops.
The agreement between the United States and Mexico that established the
Bracero Program indicated specifically that no one under age 14 could participate.
The impact of national quotas for immigrants from Mexico coupled with the end of the
Bracero Program, however, meant that thousands of Mexicans lost their legal right to work in the United States.
Up to and throughout his chapter-long focus on the
Bracero period, Foley breaks with Chicana / o Studies tradition and examines the historical perspective from Mexico.
Although originally devised to meet World War II shortages, the
Bracero Program continued until 1964 under a variety of legislative authorities, ultimately employing 5 million Mexican laborers.
La migracion en la Segunda Guerra Mundial, con la participacion de los norteamericanos en este conflicto belico dejaron desabastecido de mano de obra a su economia, lo que los llevo a recurrir nuevamente de mano de obra extranjera, lo que en Mexico vendria a ser representado por el "programa
bracero".
He examines recruiting, processing and transporting
bracero labor to the US, then takes a stand in defense of indentured labor, examines the case of Henry P.
during World War II as part of the
Bracero program.