Braceros bring Mexican Folklore to USA 1942-1962
The Work
Bracero from all areas of Mexico migrate north to the USA
The bracero program enlisted men from all over Mexico to work in the agricultural and railroad industry throughout various states in the United States. Both single and married men traveled and left their homes to enlist in the program. They're were also many men who went illegally as mojados or alambres.
Train was the main source of travel.
Over the twenty years that the program was started two million men from Mexico traveled north on the train or bus to work in the U.S. It was over a week journey in the scanty crowded train.
Processing centers
When the men decided to work for the program they had to enlist in a processing center close to their home in Mexico. Once they reached the border they had to report to another processing center. If they just showed up the wait could take up to a week. When they were already enlisted it took a day or two to be processed. The waits were grueling and long. Many men did not have money to buy food and wait the week or days to report to work.
Crossing the border
Once the men where processed on the border they also had a terrible crossing and process to get to the work center. They were all stripped and sprayed with DT to be decontaminated before they could start working. This was part of the inspection to cross the border. Once across the border at the work centers the men had to strip to be inspected by potential employers. It was a humiliating experience but part of the process to work in the U.S.
Working on the railroad
The Bracero program also involved the Railroad Program which put Braceros in 1943 throughout the United States which included Missouri, Ohio, Illinois, New York, New Jersey, and Connecticut.
Food supplied by employers
The food supplied by the employer was terrible and they deducted it from each mans weekly pay. It was not sufficient for the long hours the men put in every day. It was better when the employer did not supply the food because it cost less and was better quality.
Living conditions
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The living conditions were substandard. The shelter were overcrowded with men and bunks. The bunks were uncomfortable and inadequate. The buildings were drafty and full of holes.
Dedicated to My Grandfather Juan and Father Emilio who were both in the Bracero Program.
Juan Espinoza
Juan Espinoza left San Luis Potosi in 1943 enlisted in the Bracero program. He went to Missouri and Montana to work on the railroad. He also went to work in California Imperial Valley for over a year picking different kinds of vegetables. He mentioned a short stay in Texas picking cotton. He left his wife and six children back in Providencia, San Luis Potosi waiting for his letters and money.
Emilio Espinoza
Emilio is Juan's son and he left San Luis Potosi in 1952 to sign up also to the Bracero program. In Tijuana he waited to be enlist and endured the spraying and inspections his father had been through ten years earlier. Emilio worked in the celery fields for many years. He also had left his wife behind in San Luis Potosi but later had her join him in Tijuana B.C. where she waited for him with eight children.
