Bracero

It was 1942 in the middle of World War II when much of America’s manpower was overseas fighting the war. Many of our country’s jobs were capably being taken care of by America’s women, but there was still an urgent need for a larger labor supply. Farmers, fearing the urgent need for more labor and feeling the anxiety over having to pay higher wages, were desperate for workers. At the same time, ever since the 1910 Mexican Revolution when 2 million peasants died, the Mexican workers were not being provided the resources or the jobs by their government to survive. Enter an agreement between the two countries called Bracero, the Spanish word for day laborer or the offering of an arm based on the word brazo meaning arm.
This was neither the first nor the last such program. Before the Civil War most of the work on small farms was done by family and friends of the farmer, and most of their production was just for themselves. Many Mexican workers came to work on the railroads in the 1880s and 1890s. The Chinese workers also came to work on the railroads. Later, in the 1920s more workers came to the cotton fields and gins to fill the need for a greater labor force. Not only the cotton crops, but also the fruits and vegetable crops called for hands on maintenance and picking—seasonal work. From 1942 to 1964 during the twenty-two years the Bracero Program was in effect, 4.5 million Mexican National workers came to America to work. The workers came mostly to Texas, California, and Arizona (80,000 per year in El Paso alone).
The program was only offered to able males who were required by some Mexican states to work for a period of time in Mexico before being eligible to come to America. The program required a physical examination and a signed contract that stated they would return to Mexico at the end of their contract. At first, the laborers worked for the governments but later in the program, they were hired directly by the farmers themselves. States were given no less than $9 million and not less than $13.5 million to accomplish administering this program to fill America’s need for an emergency labor force. The money was for managing, training, recruitment, transportation, living expenses, building temporary housing and sanitary facilities, medical services, occupational insurance and even a 10% savings account to be held for the worker upon his return to Mexico. The workers were to be paid the same wages as domestic workers, but in any event no less than 30 cents per hour; this was later increased to 57 cents per hour depending upon the type of work. No more than 2% of the funds were to be spent on administration of the workers themselves.
Many things have affected migrant labor including the mechanization of picking the cotton crop, moving of population from rural to urban areas, loss of domestic labor due to wartimes, resulting in changing needs. Some of the needs were met with POWs from camps in our country; these included mostly Germans and some Italians and supplied between 41,000 and 122,000 workers from 1943 to 1945.
The original program was modified in 1943 and extended in 1946-1947 & again in 1949.
Our local labor camp may have been built during the 1946 extension period. Local counties could apply for funds to build a labor camp. An administrator was then hired to manage the program and the workers. The labor camp in Friona was just south of the railroad tracks at the end of main. The camp was built by local contractors in close proximity to the cotton gin because most of the workers did not have any means of transportation other than their employer’s. The workers came by railroad to Juarez, which became a Bracero Center and were then bussed or brought by railroad to areas of need in America. Once the system was in place, area farmers could go to the camps and hire workers by the day and they also paid the wages. The facilities were dormitory type dwellings with a separate building for toilet and shower purposes. Some of the first workers to come, before facilities were constructed, were housed what is now the city barn. The area was partitioned off with burlap or canvas curtains to allow some privacy. Later, a different building was constructed to house families who worked at the vegetable shed on the north side of the railroad just east of the city barn.
On December 31, 1964 the last day of the Bracero program, 527 Mexican Nationals crossed the Sante Fe Bridge in Juarez to American making a total of 12, 127 for its final year of operation. It was not the intent of the program to drain or destroy the domestic work force of either country; but, as with any such program, there was fraud and abuse, which brought about discontent, distrust, and disagreements. Strictly forbidden was the use of migrant labor as strikebreakers—allowing migrants to work when American workers went on strike. Unfortunately, this and many other abuses were realities. By the time the program ended, our own secretary of labor called it ‘legalized slavery’. It also brought about the phenomenon of ‘circulatory migration’. Migrant workers, by agreement, were to return to their countries of origin at the end of their contract. Many collected their 10% savings accounts and returned to the U.S. Thus, these legalized non-resident, or alien workers, became ‘illegal aliens’. The fact that working conditions and wages had not improved in Mexico also contributed to this re-migration.
Migrant labor has come to the rescue when an emergency labor force was urgently needed to provide for wartime and peacetime economical needs. It has also helped keep food prices down in America while allowing us to feed many, many of the world’s people in addition to our own land. As our rich farmland and farmers help feed the world, we acknowledge the important roles the migrant labor force has played. As we celebrate our bountiful harvests each year at Maize Days, we honor all who played a part in our success. During this month of honoring Hispanic History, if all can appreciate the roles we each have played, then perhaps, the hopefully noble intent and purpose of a program provided by these two governments was realized.
In a very recent PBS documentary, they investigated the effects upon the families left behind in Mexico by migrant male laborers. Many do not ever return and their families, women and children, are left to fend for themselves doing much of the same type work as their husbands, fathers, and brothers are doing in America. Loneliness is a big factor in even today’s programs, which often do not allow families to come legally. Many times workers are robbed and murdered when they return to see their families in Mexico.
Note: I do not have any pictures this week because I have been unable to find any. I have been considering this story since last September. I remember what the camps looked like and had the occasion to see inside the actual buildings but it was long after they had been abandoned, although I do not remember exactly when they began here. If any of you have any information and/or photos, please share them. Many counties have well documented programs, but I have not found very much information on Friona or Parmer County. We plan to include it in the new Parmer County History Book to be published for the County Centennial in 2007. DB