Seasonal Farm Laborers Program

The Bracero Programs (from the Spanish term bracero [bɾaˈse.ɾo], meaning "manual laborer" or "one who works using his arms") were the result of a series of laws and diplomatic agreements, initiated on August 4, 1942, when the United States signed the Mexican Farm Labor Agreement with Mexico.[1] For these farmworkers, the agreement guaranteed decent living conditions (sanitation, adequate shelter, and food) and a minimum wage of 30 cents an hour, as well as protections from forced military service, and guaranteed that a part of wages was to be put into a private savings account in Mexico; it also allowed the importation of contract laborers from Guam as a temporary measure during the early phases of World War II.[2]

The agreement was extended with the Migrant Labor Agreement of 1951 (Pub. L. 82–78), enacted as an amendment to the Agricultural Act of 1949 by the United States Congress,[3] which set the official parameters for the Bracero Program until its termination in 1964.[4]

A 2018 study published in the American Economic Review found that the termination of the Bracero Program did not raise wages or employment for American-born farm workers.[5] A 2023 study in the American Economic Journal found that the termination of the program had adverse economic effects on American farmers and prompted greater farm mechanization.[6]

Temporary agricultural workers started being admitted with H-2 visas under the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1952, and starting with the Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986, have been admitted on H-2A visas. The Bracero Program operated as a joint program under the State Department, the Department of Labor, and the Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS) in the Department of Justice