What would it be like to live a day as a bracero? Here’s an idea…

If it’s winter, you wake up jammed close to several other men. You are each wearing every piece of clothing you own, and you don’t want to get out of bed. It's coooold. The freezing winter air has leaked into your tent. If you wake up in summer, it’s another story. You want to scramble out of your tent right away. It’s 100 degrees inside! Besides that, bugs swarm everywhere—unless your camp has been hosed with toxic bug sprays (which you don’t want to breathe).

Time for work! Thankfully, you already know all about farming. You once ran your own farm in Mexico. But here, you have to tend crops with a tool called the short-handled hoe. In order to use it, you must bend down low. You crawl over the dusty rows of plants for ten to twelve hours every day. When your shift finally ends, you have a serious kink in your back.

At mealtime, the camp cook might make you something easy like a sandwich on white bread. You and the other braceros don’t like sandwiches. You like tortillas, which you grew up eating in Mexico. But as you stay in the United States longer, you get more used to American taste. You even trade in your sombreros and leather sandals for American-style hats and shoes. But when you go to the theater or a restaurant, the signs say “No Mexicans Allowed!”

Guest worker laws say braceros should be treated fairly. They say workers should have proper shelter, food, and clean bathroom conditions. Mexicans are to be paid the same minimum amount as U.S. workers. They are not to be treated differently because of their race. But some people and employers in the U.S. do no follow those rules.

Some Mexicans do not obey the law either. They do no wait their turn to sign a work agreement. Many jump to the head of the line by paying bribes to corrupt officials. Many simply cross the border without a work agreement.