The Circuit: Stories from the Life of a Migrant Child

Francisco Jimenez uses a child’s perspective to share his deeply personal stories about life in a migrant family. The history of Mexican immigration to the United States shortly before and during the 1940s provides a broader historical context and a deeper understanding of the social and political climate surrounding immigration that Francisco and his family encountered.

During the Mexican Revolution from 1910 to 1920, thousands fled Mexico to avoid violence and persecution and immigrated to the United States. While the Johnson-Reed Act of 1924 established quotas of how many immigrants could come from various countries—and completely excluded Asian immigrants—Mexican immigrants were valued for their work in the agricultural industry. The US Border Patrol—la migra—was created as a part of this act, establishing entry stations along the US border with Mexico, primarily to keep Asian immigrants from entering the US from Mexico. Between 1900 and 1930, almost 700,000 authorized Mexican immigrants entered the United States, working mostly as agricultural laborers (Gutiérrez, Ramón A. “Mexican Immigration to the United States.” Oxford Research Encyclopedias, 2019). By 1924, US industries like agriculture, mining, and manufacturing were dominated by Mexican labor. Mexican immigrants were useful—and easy to take advantage of.

The start of the Great Depression in 1929 brought a wave of tensions and open hostility against Mexican immigrants. With the US economy in dire straits, Americans saw Mexican immigrants as a threat to jobs that they now needed. They characterized Mexicans with racial slurs and derogatory terms. In the 1930s, the US began to “repatriate” Mexican immigrants: raiding jobsites, sweeping through parks and public places, arresting Mexican people regardless of whether they were American citizens or if they had permanent work visas, and sending them back to Mexico. Almost 2 million people were “repatriated” to Mexico, and researcher George Dunn estimates that 60% of them were American citizens (Little, Becky. “The U.S. Deported A Million of Its Own Citizens to Mexico During the Great Depression.” History, 12 July 2019).

The start of World War II, however, brought another change in attitude toward Mexican immigrants. Mexico proved to be a good ally of the Allied forces and sent their own troops to fight in the conflict. The Aztec Eagles, a Mexican air squadron, helped the US Air Force liberate the Philippines in 1945. With so many American workers away at war, there was a desperate need for agricultural workers. In 1942, as an emergency measure, the US government and Mexico agreed to the Mexican Farm Labor Program, or Bracero Program, which awarded Mexican workers short-term labor contracts in the US. Brazo in Spanish means “arm” and, since the Mexican laborers worked with their arms and hands, they became known as braceros. Over 219,000 braceros took part in the program from 1942 to 1947, around the time when Francisco’s family entered the US (Gutiérrez).

Under the oversight of the Mexican government, braceros signed contracts with American employers, guaranteeing them transportation to and from the border to their work site, and specific pay and length of work, along with decent food and housing. The contracts were supposed to keep the braceros protected from exploitation and discrimination, but many braceros reported being taken advantage of, suffering racial prejudice, wage disparity, and terrible, unsafe living conditions. Gabriel’s story in “Learning the Game” is just one example of the abuse that braceros encountered. Francisco’s family also endured discrimination and unsanitary housing.

The Bracero Program was extended several times until 1964 but it was controversial. On the positive side, the program helped US agricultural employers by giving them workers during the war years and allowed Mexican workers to make and send money back to their families. On the negative side, American employers often went around the red tape involved in the Bracero Program by hiring undocumented immigrants. Anti-immigration groups asserted that braceros were taking American jobs, and that the program led to an increase in undocumented immigration. The migrant workers also suffered greatly under the program. Cesar Chavez documented migrant worker exploitation in the Bracero Program, and it influenced his efforts in 1962 to protect the rights of agricultural workers.