ABSTRACT
W ithin a few years of the bracero program's inauguration a host of liberal critiques raised a long list of serious charges regarding the treatment of the braceros, including wholesale corruption, ramshackle and overcrowded housing, unsafe work conditions, wage cheating, unsafe transportation, nonexistent health protections, and few opportunities for recreation. Moreover, bracero labor undercut wages for domestic workers and, worse, sent them to the unemployment lines. Among the critics of the bracero program none stand out more than Ernesto Galarza, whose several works have exposed the program's multiple layers of cruel exploitation and oppression. 1 The glaring gap between the legal protections for braceros incorporated into the international agreement and the reality of a virtual laissez faire exploitative system has compelled progressive-minded people to criticize the program severely. Eventually, the program was terminated, but only after nearly a half-million men were transported to labor in the production of the United States’ field crops, fruits, and vegetables—the most arduous and least compensated work available in the nation.
