I'm posting this article despite it's leaning toward pro-illegal labor only because it gives a short summary of the history of legal and illegal immigration from Mexico in the past.

A long history of Mexican labor

By Recorder Staff
A controversial subject for which their are no easy answers, illegal immigration continues to dominate local and national news headlines while lawmakers debate over policy. But immigration from Mexico began not as a politically charged issue, but rather as what seemed a logical solution to problems on both sides of the border.

According to pbs.com, the presence of Mexican workers in the American labor scene started in the 1880s with the construction of the railroad between Mexico and the U.S., with a large percentage of the railway crews being Mexican.

In the aftermath of the Mexican Revolution in 1910, the Mexican way of life became one of survival as crops failed to thrive and employment became increasingly difficult to find. The U.S. involvement in World War I opened the door for Mexican immigration since much of the U.S. labor force was involved in the war overseas.

In 1920, the American and Mexican governments entered into a contract that guaranteed Mexican workers certain rights, including that workers be allowed to bring their families along during the period of the contract. No worker was allowed to leave for the United States without a contract which outlined the conditions of employment.

In 1924, the U.S. Border Patrol was created, and while the public did not immediately view Mexicans as "illegal aliens," the law stated that undocumented workers were fugitives, and many Mexican citizens north of the border became subject to much suspicion.
Another measure of control was imposed on the Mexican immigrant workers during the depression: Visas were denied to all Mexicans who failed to prove they had secure employment in the United States. The Mexicans who were deported under this act were warned that if they returned to the States, they would be considered outlaws.

When the U.S. entered into World War II, labor was siphoned from all areas of American industry and poured into those which supported the war efforts. In need of workers to replace the soldiers fighting overseas, the U.S. signed the Bracero Treaty in 1942 which reopened the floodgates for legal immigration of Mexican laborers. Between 1942 and 1964, millions of Mexicans were imported into the U.S. as "braceros" under the Bracero Program to work temporarily on contract.

The Bracero Program contracts were controlled by independent farmer associations and were written in English, so many braceros would sign them without understanding the rights they were giving away nor the terms of the employment.

The braceros were allowed to return to their native lands only in case of emergency, and required written permission from their employer. When the contracts expired, the braceros were mandated to hand over their permits and return to Mexico.

After World War II, Mexican workers were ousted from their jobs by workers coming out of wartime industries and returning servicemen. By 1947, the Emergency Farm Labor Service was working on decreasing the amount of Mexican labor imported. By the 1960s, an overflow of illegal agricultural workers diminished the practicality and appeal of the bracero program, eventually leading to the program's end in 1964.

There are currently 1.5 million illegal immigrants working in agriculture in the U.S. Comprehensive immigration reform recently collapsed in the Senate, but U.S. Sen. Dianne Feinstein, D-Calif., said last week that a guest worker bill could soon be resurfacing on Capitol Hill.

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