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Glite Dictionary
bracero

bracero

3 9.9
A Mexican worker who came to the United States to do farm or railroad work during World War II
  • noun
  • /brəˈsɛroʊ/
  • Archaic
: bracero
  • Despite such strong criticism, opponents of the bracero program made little headway until the early 1960s.
  • bracero program
  • bracero agreement
  • bracero workers

I grew up on a meet Papaya one of the first braceros who crossed the border.

Examples

  • The bracero program officially ended in 1964, but Mexican farm workers continued their migratory ways.

    Academic text (2003)

  • The Franklin Roosevelt administration initiated the "temporary wartime emergency" bracero program to provide field labor to southwestern farmers whose farmhands had been drafted.

    Academic text (2001)

  • As with the bracero program, the initial flow began slowly.

    Academic text (2001)

  • The actual number of bracero admissions during World War II was quite small.

    Academic text (2001)

  • Following the demise of the bracero program, Mexican immigration virtually disappeared as an issue in national politics.

    Academic text (1991)

  • Today, scholars largely agree that the 22 years of bracero employment created the conditions for the subsequent boom of unauthorized Mexican migration.

    Academic text (2001)

  • In 1960, some 45,000 farm workers (mostly braceros) had harvested 2.2 million tons of processing tomatoes.

    Academic text (2001)

  • With new farm labor demands during and after World War II, the newly instituted bracero program legalized the temporary recruitment of as many as 4 million Mexican migrant farm workers annually.

    Academic text (2003)

  • During the harvest season, many braceros traveled to the United States to work in the fields.

  • The bracero program allowed countless braceros to support their families back in Mexico.

Synonyms

migrant worker
vsbracero
20 3.3

A person who moves to another place to do temporary work, often on farms

refers to a Mexican hired under a specific wartime US labor program

Surface Forms

bracero singular
braceros plural

Etymology

Bracero comes from the Spanish brazo 'arm' and the ending -ero 'worker', so it literally means someone who works with their arms. That's why the word was used for Mexican farm labourers who went to the United States to do hard physical work.