The Bracero Program: A Historical Perspective on the Perpetuation of Isolated Labor Markets in South Texas

Abstract

This paper explores the perpetuation of isolated labor markets in Texas border towns caused by Texas' relationship to and use of the Bracero Program, a temporary guest-worker program between the United States and Mexico. This work outlines its legislative formation and evolution then discusses the various methods in which bracero workers were both bound to the land they worked and isolated from the national labor market.