Bracero revival could be stirring

By Louie Gilot / El Paso Times
El Paso Times

Article Launched:01/11/2007 12:00:00 AM MST

Legislators restarted talks of immigration reform Wednesday with the reintroduction of a bill for a guest-worker program, leading some border farmers to rejoice and some workers' advocates to worry about potential abuse.

The bill, S. 237, also known as AgJobs, would give a "blue card," or temporary legal status, to up to 1.5 million undocumented immigrants to work in agriculture.

To Carlos Ma rentes, director of the Sin Fronteras farmworker center in El Paso, the plan conjured up the specter of the bracero program of the 1940s, 1950s and 1960s.

Workers then reported being cheated on pay and made to work in substandard conditions. There has not been a substantial agricultural guest-worker program in the United States since then.

"It (AgJobs) will not fix our immigration problem," Marentes said. "It will create another program like the bracero program where the workers will eventually be allowed to become citizens but will have to accept all sorts of abuse."