Editing Bracero Program (section)

== Effects ==
{{See also|H-2A visa}}
After the 1964 termination of the Bracero Program, the A-TEAM, or [[Athletes in Temporary Employment as Agricultural Manpower]], program of 1965 was meant to simultaneously deal with the resulting shortage of farmworkers and a shortage of [[summer job]]s for teenagers.<ref name="Arellano-2018">{{Cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2018/07/31/634442195/when-the-u-s-government-tried-to-replace-migrant-farmworkers-with-high-schoolers|title=When The U.S. Government Tried To Replace Migrant Farmworkers With High Schoolers|last=Arellano|first=Gustavo|date=23 August 2018|work=NPR|access-date=2018-08-24|language=en}}</ref>  More than 18,000 17-year-old high school students were recruited to work on farms in Texas and California.  Only 3,300 ever worked in the fields, and many of them quickly quit or staged [[Strike action|strikes]] because of the poor working conditions, including oppressive heat and decrepit housing.<ref name="Arellano-2018" />  The program was cancelled after the first summer.

The year after the Bracero program was terminated, the [[Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965|Hart-Celler Act]] was passed, placing caps on the number of visas granted to residents of the Western hemisphere for the first time in United States history.<ref>{{Cite web |title=8 USC Ch. 12: IMMIGRATION AND NATIONALITY |url=https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?path=/prelim@title8/chapter12&edition=prelim |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=uscode.house.gov}}</ref> By the time the Hart-Celler Act was implemented and the Bracero program was fully phased out, the vast majority of former braceros were left without legal means to work in the United States, so many continued to do so illegally. This lead to a dramatic rise in illegal immigration after 1965, though the overall number of migrants entering the US remained about the same as during the Bracero program.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Massey |first=Douglas S. |date=2016 |title=The Mexico-U.S. Border in the American Imagination |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/26159208 |journal=Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society |volume=160 |issue=2 |pages=160–177 |issn=0003-049X}}</ref>

The [[Catholic Church in Mexico]] was opposed to the Bracero Program, objecting to the separation of husbands and wives and the resulting disruption of family life; to the supposed exposure of migrants to vices such as prostitution, alcohol, and gambling in the United States; and to migrants' exposure to [[Protestantism|Protestant]] missionary activity while in the United States.<ref name="Craig">Richard B. Craig, ''The Bracero Program: Interest Groups and Foreign Policy'' (University of Texas Press, 1971).</ref><ref name="Fitzgerald">David Fitzgerald, [https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/uncovering-emigration-policies-catholic-church-mexico Uncovering the Emigration Policies of the Catholic Church in Mexico], Migration Police Institute (May 21, 2009).</ref> Starting in 1953, Catholic priests were assigned to some ''bracero'' communities,<ref name="Craig"/> and the Catholic Church engaged in other efforts specifically targeted at ''braceros''.<ref name="Fitzgerald"/>

Labor unions that tried to organize agricultural workers after World War II targeted the Bracero Program as a key impediment to improving the wages of domestic farm workers.<ref name=" Ferris, Susan 1997">Ferris, Susan and Sandoval, Ricardo (1997). ''The Fight in the Fields: Cesar Chavez and the Farmworkers Movement''</ref> These unions included the National Farm Laborers Union (NFLU), later called the National Agricultural Workers Union (NAWU), headed by [[Ernesto Galarza]], and the Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee (AWOC), AFL-CIO. During his tenure with the [[Community Service Organization]], [[César Chávez]] received a grant from the AWOC to organize in [[Oxnard, California]], which culminated in a protest of domestic U.S. agricultural workers of the [[U.S. Department of Labor]]'s administration of the program.<ref name="Ferris, Susan 1997" /> In January 1961, in an effort to publicize the effects of ''bracero'' labor on labor standards, the AWOC led a strike of lettuce workers at 18 farms in the [[Imperial Valley]], an agricultural region on the California-Mexico border and a major destination for ''braceros''.<ref>Los Angeles Times, January 23, 1961 "Lettuce Farm Strike Part of Deliberate Union Plan"</ref>

Prior to the end of the Bracero Program in 1964, The [[Chualar bus crash|Chualar Bus Crash]] in Salinas, California made headlines illustrating just how harsh braceros situations were in California. In the accident 31 braceros lost their lives in a collision with a train and a bracero transportation truck.  This particular accident led activist groups from agriculture and the cities to come together and strongly oppose the Bracero Program.<ref>{{Cite journal|date=July 2013|title=A Town Full of Dead Mexicans: The Salinas Valley Bracero Tragedy of 1963, the End of the Bracero Program, and the Evolution of California's Chicano Movement|url=https://academic.oup.com/whq/article-lookup/doi/10.2307/westhistquar.44.2.0124|journal=The Western Historical Quarterly|language=en|volume=44|issue=2|pages=124–143|doi=10.2307/westhistquar.44.2.0124|url-access=subscription}}</ref> Griego, a [[political scientist]] discusses the bargaining position of both countries, arguing that the Mexican government lost all real bargaining-power after 1950. In addition to the surge of activism in American migrant labor the Chicano Movement was now in the forefront creating a united image on behalf of the fight against the Bracero Program.   

The end of the Bracero Program in 1964 was followed by the rise to prominence of the [[United Farm Workers]] (UFW) and the subsequent transformation of American migrant labor under the leadership of [[César Chávez]], [[Gilbert Padilla]], and [[Dolores Huerta]]. Newly formed labor unions (sponsored by Chávez and Huerta), namely the [[Agricultural Workers Organizing Committee]], were responsible for series of public demonstrations including the [[Delano grape strike]]. These efforts demanded change for labor rights, wages and the general mistreatment of workers that had gained national attention with the Bracero Program. Change ensued with the UFW championing a 40% wage increase for grape farm laborers nationwide.<ref name=":1">{{Cite web |title=Mexican Braceros and US Farm Workers {{!}} Wilson Center |url=https://www.wilsoncenter.org/article/mexican-braceros-and-us-farm-workers |access-date=2023-03-30 |website=www.wilsoncenter.org |language=en}}</ref> While the federal minimum wage remained at $1.25 per hour, laborers operating under the ''grape contract'' made $1.50.<ref name=":1" /> In order to avoid increased wages, farmers who formerly employed braceros would later turn to the mechanization of labor-intensive tasks.
[[File:Labor Hall of Honor and the Cesar Chavez Memorial Auditorium7 (Delores Huerta).jpg | thumb|right | Delores Huerta. The image was taken in 2012 at the unveiling of Cesar E. Chavez Memorial Auditorium in Washington, DC.]]A 1980 [[Congressional Research Service]] report found that the Bracero Program was "instrumental" in significantly reducing illegal immigration by the mid-1950s.<ref>{{citation|author=Congressional Research Service|url=https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=umn.31951d00817043c&view=1up&page=root&size=100&seq=45&q1=without+question|title=Temporary Worker Programs: Background and Issues|place=Washington|publisher=U.S. Government Printing Office|year=1980|page=41|accessdate=May 12, 2024|via=HathiTrust}}</ref> The end of the program saw a rise in Mexican legal immigration between 1963 and 1972, as many Mexican men who had already lived in the United States chose to return, bringing along their families.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Portes |first=Alejandro |date=1974-03-01 |title=Return of the wetback |url=https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02695162 |journal=Society |language=en |volume=11 |issue=3 |pages=40–46 |doi=10.1007/BF02695162 |s2cid=143986760 |issn=1936-4725|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The dissolution of the Bracero program also saw a rise in undocumented immigration, with American growers hired increasing numbers of undocumented migrants.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zatz |first1=Marjorie S. |last2=Calavita |first2=Kitty |last3=Gamboa |first3=Erasmo |date=1993 |title=Using and Abusing Mexican Farmworkers: The Bracero Program and the INS |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/3053955 |journal=Law & Society Review |volume=27 |issue=4 |pages=851 |doi=10.2307/3053955|jstor=3053955 |url-access=subscription }}</ref> The [[Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986|Immigration Reform and Control Act]] was passed in 1986 to address the hiring of undocumented migrants by American employers.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Sen. Simpson |first=Alan K. [R-WY |date=1986-11-06 |title=S.1200 - 99th Congress (1985-1986): Immigration Reform and Control Act of 1986 |url=https://www.congress.gov/bill/99th-congress/senate-bill/1200 |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=www.congress.gov}}</ref>

Operation Wetback, executed in order to address concerns over illegal immigration while the Bracero program brought in unprecedented numbers of Mexican migrants, continues to have relevance nearly 75 years later, as [[Donald Trump]] cited it as an example of what he would do should he win the presidency during his [[Donald Trump 2016 presidential campaign|2016 presidential run]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-11-12 |title=Trump Praised It Without Naming It: What Was 'Operation Wetback?' |url=https://www.nbcnews.com/news/latino/trump-praised-it-without-naming-it-what-was-operation-wetback-n461666 |access-date=2025-04-14 |website=NBC News |language=en}}</ref> After its completion, Operation Wetback was hailed as having brought illegal immigration under control,<ref>{{Cite book |last=García |first=Juan Ramón |title=Operation Wetback: the mass deportation of Mexican undocumented workers in 1954 |date=1980 |publisher=Greenwood Pr |isbn=978-0-313-21353-3 |series=Contributions in ethnic studies |location=Westport, Conn.}}</ref> but in reality, it was largely unsuccessful in stemming illegal immigration.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Hernández |first=Kelly Lytle |date=2006-11-01 |title=The Crimes and Consequences of Illegal Immigration: A Cross-Border Examination of Operation Wetback, 1943 to 1954 |url=https://academic.oup.com/whq/article-abstract/37/4/421/1915627?redirectedFrom=fulltext |journal=Western Historical Quarterly |volume=37 |issue=4 |pages=421–444 |doi=10.2307/25443415 |issn=0043-3810|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

The aftermath of the Bracero Program's effect on labor conditions for agricultural workers continues to be debated. On one hand, the end of the program allowed workers to unionize and facilitated victories made by labor organizations and other individuals. A key victory for these former ''braceros'' was the abolition of the short-handed hoe, ''el cortito,'' spurred by the efforts of American lawyer Maurice Jordan. Jordan was successfully able to win a case against California growers, claiming that the tool did not increase crop yield and caused several health issues for workers.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Murray |first=Douglas L. |date=October 1982 |title=The Abolition of El Cortito, the Short-Handled Hoe: A Case Study in Social Conflict and State Policy in California Agriculture |url=https://doi.org/10.2307/800182 |journal=Social Problems |volume=30 |issue=1 |pages=26–39 |doi=10.2307/800182 |jstor=800182 |issn=0037-7791|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

Some consider the H-2A visa program to be a repeat of the abuses of the Bracero Program where workers report dangerous conditions. For example, a blueberry farm worker in Washington died in August 2017 for reported 12-hour shifts under hot conditions to meet production quotas.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Bacon |first=David |date=2018-06-01 |title='You Came Here to Suffer' |url=https://progressive.org/api/content/3df612ae-6359-11e8-a1a9-12408cbff2b0/ |access-date=2023-03-16 |website=Progressive.org |language=en-us}}</ref>