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By including a US and a Mexican perspective, Mize is able to create a thorough study of the Bracero program that includes US attitudes towards Braceros, the Mexican government’s ideas about Braceros, how Mexican Americans viewed Mexican Nationals, and Mexican Nationals’ visions of themselves and their labor. Mize comes to life through the oral interviews of Braceros and their families. The Invisible Workers of the U.S.–Mexico Bracero Program: Obreros Olvidados by Ronald L. Johnson, Dean and Mabie-Apallas Professor of Public Interest Law and Chicana/o Studies, UC Davis School of Law Invisible Workers by Ronald Mize is nothing less than the definitive history of the U.S./Mexico guestworker program…From this history, one gains a much fuller appreciation than from other historical accounts of the intersection of race and class in the exploitation and oppression of these "guest workers." As the United States continues to contemplate new guest worker programs, Invisible Workers should be a cautionary tale of how far such programs may deviate from the ideals of liberty and justice for all. Paul López, California State University, Chico A well-researched book that adds significantly to the literature on the former guest worker program and challenges readers to re-examine the recruitment of temporary guest workers during today’s current period of anti-immigrant scapegoating.

Indeed, through rich first-hand interviews from former braceros, Mize argues forcibly that braceros were exploited by their class and racial differences and thus ensured their invisibility as recruited guest workers. In the Invisible Workers of the U.S-Mexico Bracero Program Professor Mize has written an important book on the former guest worker program and its participants, giving a voice to those made invisible. Mize convincingly demonstrates that the situation of these workers can only really be understood by considering the interaction of powerful structural forces shaping migration and subjective intentionality. Although ostensibly a detailed analysis of this post–World War II transnational labor program, the book reads like a penetrating critique of current attitudes toward, and the treatment of, Mexican and other Hispanic laborers. This is what Ronald Mize does in The Invisible Workers of the U.S.-Mexico Bracero Program. The author deserves high praise for opening eyes to a program in which the United States asked Mexico to send field workers for almost 25 years.Īdopting a broader historical perspective on immigration can inform an understanding of these issues in ways that a purely present-time focus cannot. Mize gives historical context to a longstanding bipolar relationship in which the United States entices documented and undocumented labor to cross the border to do dangerous, backbreaking, dirty, low-paying jobs and then turns on the Mexicans, making them the face of the law-breakers who must be deported for not standing in line to enter and stay legally. Mize’s writing sheds light on the institutional racism that was woven into the Bracero program’s structure, but also into interpersonal relationships. If you wish to assist the library with transcribing and/or translating these interviews, please contact Matt Cook.Invisible Workers gives voice to the Braceros, whose perspectives have been largely absent from official accounts. As economists, policy advisers, and policymakers look to historians studies of the Bracero Program as the root of current immigration and agricultural policies. Some audio oral histories have not been transcribed in English and Spanish. Not all items are open to the general public. This digital collection contains exhibit documents, exhibit images, interview documentation, and oral histories. In conjunction with the exhibit, students from CI under the guidance of Jose Alamillo, Associate Professor of Chicana/o Studies, conducted more than 70 interviews, 10 of which were featured in the exhibition. The exhibit "examines the experiences of bracero workers and their families, providing rich insight into Mexican American history and historical background to today's debates on guest worker programs". In 2010, CI hosted the "Bittersweet Harvest, The Bracero Program 1942-1964," a traveling bilingual exhibition organized by the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History.

The Bracero Program, according to the Smithsonian National Museum, brought millions of Mexican guest workers to the United States. The program spanned over 28 states, including Arizona, Arkansas, California, New Mexico, and Texas. The Bracero Program was initiated in 1942, during War World II, as a temporary war measure to address the labor needs in both the agriculture and railroad industries.