USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -An executive order called the Mexican Farm Labor Program established the Bracero Program in 1942. This series of diplomatic accords between Mexico and the United States permitted millions of Mexican men to work legally in the United States on short-term labor contracts.

Detailed explanation-2: -The Bracero program refers to agreements between the US and Mexican governments that allowed Mexican workers to fill seasonal jobs on US farms. Both the 1917-21 and the 1942-64 Bracero programs that were begun in wartime and continued after WWI and WWII ended.

Detailed explanation-3: -Mexicans participated in the belief that becoming braceros temporarily would enable them to acquire additional skills and knowledge while earning higher wages than available in Mexico.

Detailed explanation-4: -The program was born from necessity, as the federal government worried that American entry into World War II would sap the Southwest of much of its farm labor. Manual laborers (braceros in Spanish) from Mexico became an important part of the region’s economy, and the program outlasted the war.

Detailed explanation-5: -Under this pact, the laborers were promised decent living conditions in labor camps, such as adequate shelter, food and sanitation, as well as a minimum wage pay of 30 cents an hour. The program began in Stockton, California in August 1942.