Life in the Bracero Program

Man sitting on a cot in makeshift housing after a day of working in the fields

As non-citizen workers, Braceros were subject to exploitative and dangerous conditions. Workers were housed in makeshift barracks and transported in truck beds for long days of grueling work. The terms of the Bracero Program guaranteed a standard of housing, food, wages, and medical care, but these standards were not enforced, and abusive conditions were rampant.  The threat of deportation made it difficult for Braceros to ask questions or file complaints against their mistreatment. 

Richards, Harvey. Bracero worker sits on cot in a labor camp in California, 1958 Links to an external site.. Henry Pope Anderson Papers, larc.ms.0422, Labor Archives and Research Center, San Francisco State University.