The Bracero Program
Created by the Mexican Farm Labor Agreement, the Bracero Program established a guest-worker program with Mexico that allowed Mexican farm laborers into the US for temporary work. The program initially addressed the shortage of American farm workers during World War II.
The Bracero Program was overseen by the State Department, the Department of Labor, and the Department of Justice’s Immigration and Naturalization Services (INS). This program allowed millions of Mexican men to come work in the US to supplement the shortage of farm workers brought on by World War II. It promised laborers shelter, food, and sanitation in labor camps as well as a minimum wage of 30 cents an hour. Congress extended and expanded the program in the 1950s but allowed it to expire in 1964.
