Lessons for Immigration Policy
April 18– May First: Speaking tour - Immigrant Rights, featuring an Ex-Bracero from the Asamblea Nacional de Braceros and an Immigrant Worker from Mexicanos Sin Fronteras.
President Bush and many Republicans are busy promoting immigration reform measures similar to the post-World War II Bracero program, in which migrant workers were little more than indentured servants with contracts that depended on specific employers. Workers were vulnerable to extreme exploitation and were unable to negotiate the terms of their employment.
The Bracero Program is key to understanding current immigration trends from Mexico. The Bracero Program allowed Mexicans to work on three or six month contracts in the United States to cover labor shortages and increasing negotiating power on the part of the US working class caused by World War II. During the two decades of the program, Braceros created social networks that became the base for future migrant flows.
Today, migrant workers and ex-Braceros are joined in a struggle for their fundamental rights. Ex-Bracerso are demanding payment of the 10% of their salaries that was deducted as a retirement fund during their temporary labor contracts. The money “disappeared†- billions of dollars lost either to corrupt US bankers or Mexican government officials.
Simultaneously, the new generation of migrant workers, many grandchildren and great grandchildren of Braceros, is demanding comprehensive immigration reform that includes normalization of their immigration status and the right to live their life with dignity in this country.
Speakers: A representative from the Asamblea Nacional de Ex-Braceros will offer first-hand testimony on guest worker programs, and will discuss their struggle to win payment of their retirement funds.
- A migrant day laborer will discuss the problems migrant workers confront on a daily basis in the US.
- A representative of the Mexico Solidarity Network will talk about the economic and social context of migration between the US and Mexico with special focus on the effects of guest worker programs, using the Bracero Program as an example.
To organize an event in your city, contact Macrina Cardenas-Alarcon or Mario Canek at 202-758-2116.
macrina@mexicosolidarity.org
mariocanek@mexicosolidarity.org
April 18 Charlotte
April 19 Durham
April20 Chapel Hill
April 21 Richmond
April 22 Maryland
April 23 Delaware
April24 Conecticut
April 25 New York
April 26 New Jersey
April 27,28,29 DC
Mexico Solidarity Network http://www.mexicosolidarity.org
