The politics of disposability: the generational effects of the Bracero Program

In this historical and ethnographic analysis of the Bracero Program, I argue that despite the program’s official termination, the framework of the program remained in place. As such when the state allowed capital to extend its invitation of residency to the bracero family, the structural frameworks of racial segregation, national exclusion and labor exploitation were able to funnel migrant children into the agricultural industry, producing a new generation of unofficial braceros. Drawing on the historical accounts of the Bracero Program as well as the oral histories of former braceros, this project addresses the conditions under which Mexican migrants labored and lived, as well as the social and structural frameworks that were imposed upon them as racial and national outsiders. Drawing on the personal experiences of the adult-children of former braceros who grew up in agricultural labor, I argue that when the state allowed growers to offer permanent residency to the bracero family, the structural frameworks of racial segregation, national exclusion and labor exploitation produced an unofficial continuation of the program, an in turn, aided in the production of a permanent racial underclass.