How the Bracero Program from half a century ago could help solve the immigration problem today

Guest blogger: Nicholas Gonzales, first-year law student, University of San Francisco:

Introduction

Juan Gonzalez was 14 years old when he entered the United States illegally by a train boxcar. His goal, like most other immigrants crossing the Mexico border, was to find a better life himself. While in the U.S., Juan discovered a new government program that advertised to provide immigrants with a job, housing, and enough pay to live comfortably, with citizenship as the final payoff. With minimal formal education and a socio-economic status to reflect, this program seemed like Juan’s only option for becoming lawful in the United States. This program that provided Juan and over 4.5 million other Mexican citizens the opportunity to work for their citizenship was the bracero program.

History

The bracero program (Public Law 78) was established in 1942 in response to labor shortages caused by American workers relocated by World War II. It grew out of a series of bi-lateral agreements between the U.S. and Mexico governments that permitted Mexican citizens to take temporary agricultural work here in the U.S. The program was originally designed to be an interim temporary worker program in goal of offsetting the influx in agricultural worker shortage here in the U.S. during the war. However, with a significant increase in domestic agricultural demand after the war, the bracero program continued on for over two decades and contracted a total of more than 4.5 million Mexican citizens over its 22 year lifespan; ceasing in 1964.

The bracero program is not the U.S. government’s only effort in providing citizenship through temporary agricultural work. Today there are opportunities for Mexican citizens and others crossing the Mexico border wishing to gain residence here in the U.S. in the form limited independent contracts with agricultural businesses and a regular alphabet soup of temporary work visas (H-1B, H-2A, H-2B, J-1, L-1, L-2, and Q-1). But it’s clear these options are not enough and do not create adequate opportunities for Mexican citizens to gain residence through temporary work.

The Need for a Bracero Program

It’s projected that the demand for U.S. agricultural production will increase substantially for both international import and domestic consumption in the next decade. In a 2013 article, the United States Department of Agriculture stated that, “developing countries’ demand for agricultural products is expected to increase faster than their production. Rising import demand by developing countries will provide an opportunity for the United States to expand agricultural exports.”

The original bracero program wasn’t perfect and is certainly not the direct response in mitigating the immigration problem today through temporary work. AFL-CIO, the umbrella federation for U.S. unions, stated that, “[p]rograms like the bracero program or temporary guest-worker programs where individuals were tied to an employer, they got exploited. They got cheated out of wages [and] they weren’t given what was rightfully due to them. They were forced to work under unsafe conditions. They were forced to accept substandard wages. They couldn’t say anything, because if they did, [the employer] would jerk their permit and deport them.”

It was true that the program at the time was framed in a way that took advantage of participants and did not provide proper compensation ($3 per day) or living conditions. The program adversely affected both the U.S. and Mexico governments. The agricultural industry in Mexico’s northern region was negatively impacted from the large scale migration of local farmers leaving Mexico. The U.S. agricultural companies also fell into more capitalistic habits, such as exploiting the influx of cheaper labor. Implementation of the original bracero program was as unfair to migrant workers then as it would be now. But this was not what made the program successful. These issues can be practically mitigated through proper retrofitting of the original program to adapt to today’s standards. Implementing a large scale temporary work program structurally similar to the bracero program would not only provide Mexican citizens a more practical and consistent way to gain residence and legal entry through temporary work, but also help mitigate future need for domestic agricultural production here in the U.S.

Conclusion

Two main goals of U.S. immigration reform as identified by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) include: “supporting immigrants’ integration and participation in American civic culture; [and] promoting flexible and sound immigration policies and programs” Juan Gonzalez is the grandfather of a third generation immigrant who is attending the University of San Francisco School of Law, working toward a career in International Human Rights and Immigration Law, and is the writer of this op-ed. The bracero program was a sound immigration policy at the time and aided in my family’s successful integration into American culture. Although a large scale temporary worker program or any policy of its kind will not produce the same support to our national immigration objectives, my grandfather and I are proof that it works.

It’s clear that current U.S. immigration policy is not as effective as it should be. The majority of immigrants illegally entering the U.S. through the Mexico border are doing so to find jobs to better support themselves and their families, and many of those jobs are in the agricultural industry. Although these facts raise serious issues, in order to address the overlying issue that is the immigration crisis today, policy must change with respect to immigrant’s integration into the agricultural industry here in the U.S. Reinstating a large scale temporary worker program similar to the bracero program holds the highest potential for supporting sustainable integration of Mexican citizens into the agricultural industry and ultimately into our society here in the United States.

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