The Braceros

 

The Braceros

The Bracero Program, which brought millions of Mexican guest workers to the United States, ended more than four decades ago. Current debates about immigration policy-including discussions about a new guest worker program-have put the program back in the news and made it all the more important to understand this chapter of American history. Yet while top U.S. and Mexican officials re- examine the Bracero Program as a possible model, most Americans know very little about the program, the nation's largest experiment with guest workers. Indeed, until very recently, this important story has been inadequately documented and studied, even by scholars.

The Bracero Program grew out of a series of bi-lateral agreements between Mexico and the United States that allowed millions of Mexican men to come to the United States to work on, short-term, primarily agricultural labor contracts. From 1942 to 1964, 4.6 million contracts were signed, with many individuals returning several times on different contracts, making it the largest U.S. contract labor program. An examination of the images, stories, documents and artifacts of the Bracero Program contributes to our understanding of the lives of migrant workers in Mexico and the United States, as well as our knowledge of, immigration, citizenship, nationalism, agriculture, labor practices, race relations, gender, sexuality, the family, visual culture, and the Cold War era.

The Bracero Program was created by executive order in 1942 because many growers argued that World War II would bring labor shortages to low-paying agricultural jobs. On August 4, 1942 the United States concluded a temporary intergovernmental agreement for the use of Mexican agricultural labor on United States farms (officially referred to as the Mexican Farm Labor Program), and the influx of legal temporary Mexican workers began. But the program lasted much longer than anticipated. In 1951, after nearly a decade in existence, concerns about production and the U.S. entry into the Korean conflict led Congress to formalize the Bracero Program with Public Law 78.

The Bracero Program was controversial in its time. Mexican nationals, desperate for work, were willing to take arduous jobs at wages scorned by most Americans. Farm workers already living in the United States worried that braceros would compete for jobs and lower wages. In theory, the Bracero Program had safeguards to protect both Mexican and domestic workers for example, guaranteed payment of at least the prevailing area wage received by native workers; employment for three-fourths of the contract period; adequate, sanitary, and free housing; decent meals at reasonable prices; occupational insurance at employer's expense; and free transportation back to Mexico at the end of the contract. Employers were supposed to hire braceros only in areas of certified domestic labor shortage, and were not to use them as strikebreakers. In practice, they ignored many of these rules and Mexican and native workers suffered while growers benefited from plentiful, cheap, labor. Between the 1940s and mid 1950s, farm wages dropped sharply as a percentage of manufacturing wages, a result in part of the use of braceros and undocumented laborers who lacked full rights in American society.

Temporary Visa

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I went to medical school in India and I’ve been accepted into a residency program at a hospital in Florida. If I come to the U.S. on a J-1 visa to do my residency, can I stay in the U.S. to work after my residency is done?

Answer:

J-1 visas are temporary. All temporary visas require you to return home after the purpose of your stay in the U.S. is finished. So, to extend your time in the U.S. after your residency is done, you would have to qualify for some other visa or status. The problem with that is, there’s another legal requirement that applies to persons who have received graduate medical education or training on a J-1 visa: As a general rule you can’t get certain types of visas or status until you’ve left the U.S. and lived in your home country for at least two years.

This home-return requirement exists to make sure your country benefits from your medical training in the United States. It prevents you from immediately getting any type of “immigrant” visa or “adjusting status” to live and work in the U.S. as a permanent resident. You also can’t stay in the U.S. to work on an “H” visa (used by a lot of skilled workers) or an “L” visa (used by international companies that transfer managers and other key employees to U.S. operations).

You do have some possible ways to stay in the U.S. after your J-1 residency is done. If you qualify for another type of temporary visa, such as “O” (for persons with extraordinary abilities), you can stay in the U.S. under the terms of that visa.

Also, it is possible to ask the U.S. government not to apply the two-year home return requirement to you. There are four different types of “waivers” of the two-year home return requirement that medical residents on a J-1 visa can get. If the government grants you a waiver, you can apply for any kind of permanent or temporary visa or status to extend your stay.

First, you can get a waiver if a U.S. federal government agency requests that you be allowed to stay. (The agency might want you to work there.) Second, you will not have to go back to your home country if you can show that you would face persecution there. Third, you won’t have to leave the U.S. if doing so would cause exceptional hardship to a spouse or child who is a U.S. citizen or U.S. legal permanent resident.

Finally, the two-year home return requirement can be avoided if you get what is known as a “Conrad 30” waiver. These are available only if a U.S. state requests one on your behalf and your home country doesn’t object. The waiver will be granted, and you’ll be given an “H-1B” visa, only if you agree to work full-time in the public interest at a health facility or health care organization for at least three years, usually in a part of the state that has a shortage of doctors. Each state can give out only 30 of these waivers per year.

Student And Exchange Visitor Visas

 

 

If you're planning to study in the U.S., figure out which type of visa gives you the greatest opportunities and flexibility.

 

J-1, M-1, or F-1 Visa for U.S. Study: Which One Is Best for You?

        

    

Students coming to the U.S. may have a choice between three likely visas:

• the J-1 visa for exchange visitors (including scholars) participating full time in approved exchange programs
• the M-1 visa for full-time students in vocational programs, or
• the F-1 visa for full-time students in academic programs.

If you’ve got a choice, which visa might be best for you? Let’s look at some of the comparative advantages and disadvantages to these three visas.

Types of Program Covered

F-1 and M-1 visas offer the broadest coverage of school programs. One of these visas can likely be issued for almost any type of educational program imaginable.
The M-1 visa covers vocational training in things like cooking, mechanical or technical training, dance, music, photography, animation, and art and design. (For a casual course of under 18 hours a week that doesn’t lead to a degree, however, a B-2 tourist visa is more likely the appropriate one to use.)
The F-1 visa covers secondary and high school programs as well as all courses of study at colleges and universities.
J-1 programs, by contrast, are limited as to the level of education and types of subjects that can be studied – though they include both secondary and college or higher level education. For example, high school or college students may spend a semester or year in America on a J-1 visa, or a research scholar might come to a U.S. university on a visiting basis. Further examples can be found on the U.S. State Department’s list of “Designated Sponsor Organizations.”

Foreign Exchange Students

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I’m a student at a foreign university that will give me academic credit for an
internship. Can I do the internship in the United States?


Answer:

You can come to the U.S. as an exchange student if you have been accepted into a student internship program at the U.S. university and can meet certain other requirements.

You’ll need to be able to speak, read, and write English well enough to do the internship job. You can prove this in one of three ways: in an interview with the U.S. university that is sponsoring the internship program, by taking a test, or by showing a certificate from an academic institution or English-language school.

You must be in good academic standing at your home university, and you must intend to return there to get your degree after you’re finished with the student internship program. You must be coming to the U.S. to do the internship, not to take a regular job.

You must show that you have enough money to support yourself (and your family if you’re bringing them with you) for the entire time you’ll be in the United States. Also, you must have insurance that will pay for any sickness or accident during your internship.

Before getting permission to participate in the internship program, you’ll need to sign an internship placement plan form that describes the job and what you’re going to learn by doing it. If your internship program is in hospitality or tourism and will last six months or longer, the job must contain at least three departmental or functional rotations.

The internship work can’t be something you already know how to do – rather, it should expand upon your existing knowledge and skills. The job can’t be more than 20% clerical work. Everything you do on the job must be necessary for the completion of the student internship program. The university will evaluate your progress after six months and make a final evaluation shortly before the internship is done. You’ll need to sign the evaluation.

Your internship job can be paid or unpaid. You’ll be working full-time, which means at least 32 hours per week. You can’t stay in the job more than 12 months, but if you switch majors or degree programs at your home university, you can come back for another 12-month internship. You might be able to switch internship jobs during the year, but if you leave the internship program, you’ll have to leave the United States.

The visa you need is called a J-1. You start the process by getting the U.S. university sponsoring the internship program to issue you a Form DS-2019. With that form, you can apply for the J-1 visa at the U.S. consulate in your home country. The process for getting a J-1 visa as a university exchange student is explained in more detail in

Illegal

Green Card Denial?

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If my citizenship is denied, will my green card be cancelled, too?

 

I’ve been a permanent resident for many years, and would like to finally apply for U.S. citizenship. However, a friend of mine told me about someone he knew who not only got denied citizenship, but got deported home afterward! Could this happen to me?

 

 

 

Answer:

In most cases, the reasons that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) would deny a citizenship application have nothing to do with the person’s underlying eligibility for a green card, and thus would not result in deportation. If, for example, the person fails the English exam or the U.S. government and history exam; cannot show that he or she was continuously resident in the U.S. for the requisite number of years; applied too early; or is otherwise ineligible to advance from lawful permanent residence to citizenship, the usual result would be that USCIS simply denies the application and the person continues to be a lawful permanent resident.
(In fact, if the reason for not passing  the first interview is that the person did not pass the test of either English or the U.S. government and history, USCIS will give that person a second chance, and schedule a followup interview.

There are, however, exceptions. If the reason for denial is that USCIS discovers, during the review of the applicant’s immigration file, that the applicant did not qualify for a green card in the first place – for example, because he or she committed fraud in obtaining the green card – then USCIS could not only deny citizenship or place the person in removal proceedings. The same goes if USCIS discovers that the applicant spent so much time outside the U.S. that he or she appears to have abandoned U.S. residency altogether, or has committed a crime that results in the person becoming deportable from the United States. See an attorney if there’s any chance that any of these grounds for denial might apply to you, or if you have additional questions or concerns about your case.

can my parents and brothers immigrate to the U.S.?

 

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I recently became a U.S. permanent resident.
My parents and my brothers (who are unmarried
and under age 21) would like to join me here.
Can I petition for them to get green cards?

 

Answer:

The immigration laws will not let you apply for a green card for your parents or brothers now. You need to become a U.S. citizen first. Depending on how you got your green card, your eligibility for U.S. citizenship is three to five years after you got your green card. (For more information, click image above)

 

After you become a citizen, your parents become your "immediate relatives," in immigration law lingo. When you file visa petitions for them and the petitions are approved, they'll be eligible to immigrate right away.

 

Your brothers won't be so lucky. When you become a citizen, you can file visa petitions for them, regardless of their age and whether or not they're married. But if the petitions are approved, they'll become "Fourth Preference" relatives and be put on a waiting list for a visa. The wait can be very long—in fact, brothers and sisters from the Philippines currently have the longest wait. The people getting their visas in early 2016 were waiting 23 years just to start the visa application process.

 

A tourist visa (B-2, visitor for pleasure), on the other hand, can be gotten in a few days. Being approved for one is not automatic—your family members will have to prove that they aren't trying to get into the U.S. permanently and that they can support themselves once they're here. (Once you become a citizen and file visa petitions for them, proving their intent to return will become harder, because they will already have indicated their interest in immigrating to the U.S. permanently.)

But once they've got the B-2 visa, it will probably be good for many trips to the United States. On each visit, they'll be allowed to stay for up to six months.
 
Just make sure they leave on time during every one of their visits—otherwise all manner of things could go wrong with their eventual hopes of immigrating.