The Bracero Program (1942-1964)

A Scholarly Examination of Mexican Labor Migration

Program Overview

Bracero program workers being processed at a reception center
Workers being processed at a reception center during the Bracero Program, 1942-1964. © Smithsonian Institution

The Bracero Program began in 1942 as a wartime measure to address agricultural labor shortages in the United States. The agreements established recruitment processes, transportation systems, and labor guarantees for Mexican workers.

The Bracero Program began on August 4, 1942, when the United States and Mexico signed the Mexican Farm Labor Agreement. This initial agreement established a government-to-government contract labor program in response to agricultural labor shortages during World War II. The program was intended to be temporary, but it was renewed multiple times and ultimately lasted 22 years.1

The formal agreements established specific requirements for recruitment, transportation, housing, wages, and working conditions. Mexican workers, known as "braceros" (from the Spanish word "brazo" meaning arm), were to be guaranteed a minimum wage (30 cents per hour in 1942, rising to $1.25 by 1964), decent housing, food at reasonable cost, and transportation back to Mexico at the end of their contracts.2

Recruitment initially took place at centers in Mexico City, Guadalajara, and other major cities. Prospective braceros underwent screening for agricultural experience, physical examinations, and documentation verification. The selection process was competitive, with many more applicants than available contracts.3

Every time a bracero left, it was like a celebration. But later the ranchers didn't want to let them come back to Mexico; they wanted them to stay there working.

Manuel Sandoval, former bracero, Bracero History Archive oral history, 2005

Once selected, braceros were transported to reception centers along the U.S.-Mexico border, where they underwent further processing, including medical examinations, fumigation with DDT (a now-banned pesticide), and contract assignment. From there, they were distributed to agricultural employers throughout the United States, primarily in California, Texas, Arizona, and the Northwest.4

The program underwent several revisions over its lifespan. After initial expiration in 1947, it was renewed under new agreements in 1948 and again in 1951 with Public Law 78. Each renewal brought modifications to administrative procedures, worker protections, and employer requirements.5

By the time the program ended in 1964, approximately 4.6 million bracero contracts had been issued (some individuals received multiple contracts over the years). The program's scale made it one of the largest managed labor migrations in history, profoundly shaping agricultural production in the United States and economic development in Mexico.6

Braceros undergoing medical examination
Braceros undergoing medical examination at a processing center, 1956. © National Archives and Records Administration.
Bilateral agreement document from 1942
First page of the 1942 bilateral agreement that established the Bracero Program. © National Archives and Records Administration.
Braceros traveling by train
Braceros traveling by train from border processing centers to work sites in California, 1956. © Leonard Nadel Collection, National Museum of American History.
Braceros receiving payment
Braceros receiving payment for their work, Imperial Valley, California, 1957. © Leonard Nadel Collection, National Museum of American History.
1 Richard B. Craig, The Bracero Program: Interest Groups and Foreign Policy (Austin: University of Texas Press, 1971), 39-56.
2 "Agreement between the United States of America and Mexico respecting the temporary migration of Mexican agricultural workers," Executive Agreement Series 278, August 4, 1942, U.S. Department of State.
3 Manuel García-y-Griego, "The Importation of Mexican Contract Laborers to the United States, 1942-1964," in Between Two Worlds: Mexican Immigrants in the United States, ed. David G. Gutiérrez (Wilmington, DE: Scholarly Resources, 1996), 45-85.
4 Wayne D. Rasmussen, A History of the Emergency Farm Labor Supply Program, 1943-1947, Agricultural Monograph No. 13 (Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Agriculture, 1951), 199-233.
5 U.S. Congress, "Farm Labor Program," Public Law 78, 82nd Congress, 1st Session, July 12, 1951.
6 Philip Martin, Promise Unfulfilled: Unions, Immigration and the Farm Workers (Ithaca: Cornell University Press, 2003), 47-59.
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