bracero

On paper, it appeared the braceros were getting a good deal and some actually did fairly well.

"The court is sympathetic to the braceros situation," he wrote.

Why were there so many bracero strikes in the Northwest?

Finally, not only was the pay extremely low, but braceros often weren't paid on a timely basis.

Some of the braceros are dead and most are elderly.

Advocates for the braceros have urged against that, saying they mistrust the bank.

"In some ways, this program would be even worse than the bracero program.

Social scientists doing field work in rural Mexico at the time observed these positive economic and cultural effects of bracero migration.

Experts on the braceros said it appeared that many of the laborers did not receive their savings.

But many braceros never received their money and some may have been unaware that it had been set aside.

Gamboa explains there's little record of bracero strikes outside the Northwest.

But they were unable to bribe their way into a bracero, or guest-worker, contract.

Yet, the power dynamic all braceros encountered offered little space or control by them over their living environment or working conditions.

Others deplored the negative image that the braceros' departure produced for the Mexican nation.

The lack of quality food angered braceros all over the U.S.

It is against this backdrop that the Mexican government has set up a commission to investigate the braceros' accusations.

By the time it ended, the braceros program had earned its reputation as a form of legalized slavery.

Instead, they traveled by train to Mexico City, and then were driven across the border, looking like one more family of braceros.

In the late 96os, after the bracero agreement ended and as the Mexican economy slowed, the numbers of illegal immigrants soared.

When Rigual died in 1983, Bracero became his substitute on the afternoon news cast.

"Sometimes it's hard to find people because they go by nicknames," Ms. Bracero said.

Chávez's efforts are opposed, sometimes violently, by the owners of the large industrial farms where the braceros work.

The laborers, known as braceros, began coming to the United States in 1942 to be railroad workers or farmhands.

Another reason for the large numbers of illegal immigrants present in the United States is the termination of the bracero program.

But advocates for the braceros contend that the workers and their heirs may be owed as much as $500 million, including interest.