Drying Out Process in the Bracero Program and the Latest Republican Immigration Proposal

Accoring to Dan Kowalski, The GOP-proposed “touch-back” provision allowing undocumented immigrants in the country for less than 5 years to return to their native country and then return to the U.S., resembles the old “drying out” process: “Mexican workers often had to pay fees and bribes in Mexico to be selected as Braceros, so many went north illegally. Illegal workers could be hired without penalty by U.S. farmers. If an unauthorized Mexican worker was apprehended, he was made legal in a process referred to, even in U.S. government publications, as “drying out the wetbacks” – illegal workers were taken to the Mexican border, issued work permits, and returned to the farm on which they were working.” [There Is Nothing More Permanent Than Temporary Foreign Workers, April 2001, By Philip Martin].

If this reform is passed, how long will it be befor a new undocumented population gros in this country that necessitates more immigration reform?

KJ