Life in the Bracero Program

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. 

Sign reading "Solamente pedimos nuestros derechos" is propped against car while bracero workers returning to Mexico walk away with their luggage in the foreground Links to an external site., Henry Pope Anderson Papers, larc.ms.0422, Labor Archives and Research Center, San Francisco State University.