Operation Wetback

Undocumented Immigration and the U.S-Mexico Bracero Program

One of the plausible explanations for the increasing numbers of undocumented immigrants from Mexico was the unintended effect of the U.S.-Mexico Bracero Program (1942–64). In response to perceived labor shortages by U.S. agricultural growers, it was established as a temporary guest-worker program to recruit Mexican immigrant laborers. As the United States entered World War II, U.S. workers moved from rural areas for urban military industrial employment. Woman and minorities found employment in urban industrial jobs, often for the first time. This rural-to-urban migration of workers left fewer workers employed in agricultural work.

Agreeing to a bi-national treaty, the United States and Mexico established the U.S.-Mexico Bracero Program. By 1942, recruitment of Mexican workers began from the capital, Mexico City. Only 4,000 braceros (manual laborers) were included in the first lucky group selected to receive work contracts through the program, although it was suggested that many more wanted to come. In September of 1942, Stockton, California, was the first U.S. city to host the arrival of braceros. The program's initial intention was to exist for the duration of the war, but through a series of additional agreements, the program would be extended until 1964.

In the late 1940s, recruitment of undocumented workers was no longer needed. But by this time, word of mouth had reached well into Mexico, and undocumented immigrants who had not been chosen for the program were selected by some states to illegally to cross the border. Therefore, the Bracero Program unintentionally encouraged large numbers of undocumented Mexican immigrants to simply cross, without legal papers, into the United States.

Texas, one of the states that encouraged undocumented immigration, had a long history of racial discrimination toward Mexicans. The Mexican government denied access to guest workers to Texas. However, Texas growers simply looked for Mexican workers willing to work for cheaper wages. Soon, other states began to employ undocumented Mexican immigrants, especially along the border of states such as California and Arizona. Soon, the hiring of undocumented Mexican immigrants became commonplace.

Undocumented Mexican immigrants caught working in the United States were returned to the Mexican border. Mexico was unable to handle the number of captured Mexicans, and it was decided that the U.S. authorities would legalize the apprehended workers. From 1947 to 1951, this method to deal with undocumented Mexican immigrants in the country was called “drying out.” After being taken to the border, these undocumented Mexican immigrants would be legally contracted to re-enter the United States as bracero workers and be returned to the farm on which they were found. By the late 1940s, the number of Mexican braceros who entered illegally and were later legalized soon exceeded the number of braceros who had entered via actual contracts from growers.

...