Eleanore Smukler Professor Ibarguen Professor Mitchell US History 4/12/2024.
The Braceros Program: A Veil for the Exploitative Partnership Between Mexico and the US During the time period of WWII and the Cold War, the United States experienced economic growth like never before as seen in the “kitchen debate” between Nixon and Khrushchev where freedoms of choice among products, colors, styles, prices, and various other consumer goods were presented. While this “golden age” represented a period of economic expansion, it also quickly fostered the need for labor, leading to an inevitable anomic division of labor characterized by added labor that occurs too quickly for homeostasis to develop. A clear example of this occurring at the time was the…show more content… The Bracero program was seen as necessary at the time as many Americans were at war, or, simply did not desire to take on work with long hours and harsh conditions such as farm work. As a program born out of necessity, it for the most part lacked well-defined rules, alienated workers, and placed them into poor working conditions. Therefore, while the Bracero Program was an opportunity for the major players of the US and Mexico such as political officials and employers due to the influx of cheap labor and money that it provided for those specific actors in both countries, it also had a negative impact on Mexican migrants and their families, and even the working class in the US due to the harsh working conditions, communities left behind, and US farmers labor unions becoming undone. In the first place, the program presented itself as an opportunity for Mexican citizens of all communities and backgrounds to improve the living conditions of their homes and provide more for their families than they ever could have before. Furthermore, to be accepted into the Bracero Program was displayed as a sign of great honor through the ritualistic process of holding a ceremony for those chosen, “...holding the ceremony in a stadium made the program inseparable from the revolutionary ideals of stability, order, and harmony, the instantiation…show more content… This conveys how the Bracero Program did not benefit the families that the men had initially left to support. Instead, many women were left to care for their children and support the family all on their own with the expectation from the Mexican government that they would do this out of patriotism for their country and hope for their husband’s prosperity in the US. Additionally, it was not only women that suffered due to the Bracero program, children also were deeply affected by the loss of their fathers and male presence in their communities. In the text it states, “abruptly separated from either a bracero father or an undocumented immigrant mother, children recalled being haunted by the fear that their remaining parent could be the next person to migrate to the United States.”(Rosas, 388) Suggesting that children were faced with the loss of their fathers, and sometimes, both parents, with uncertainty of them ever returning. The Bracero program was communicated by the US and Mexican government to be a way to
