Health Care and Deportation during the Bracero Program

My paper examines the health-related consequences that return migration during the Bracero Program had on Mexican migrants. I consider how the bracero guestworker program harmed migrant workers as well as the Mexican state as workers in the US endured unhealthy working and living conditions and then were sent back home when no longer productive. Although the treaties that established the program specified guidelines for the treatment of workers, in many cases migrants received little to no medical care when injured, and instead were deported to Mexico. In a few cases, migrants struggling to cope with isolation from their families and friends, difficult working conditions, and discrimination developed mental issues and were sent to mental asylums in Mexico where it was noted that they suffered from “delirious ideas of persecution.” When the US deported workers in violation of international agreements, Mexico then was faced with the burden of caring for its sick and injured migrants. Upon arrival in their home country, many deportees faced discrimination and suspicion from their fellow citizens who worried that they might spread diseases. In response, government officials launched public hygiene programs while also attempting to remove the deportees from their cities as soon as possible. As Michael Burawoy illustrates in his work on labor migration, the system of importing labor is ultimately incredibly damaging to the sending country. Looking at how this program treated bracero bodies as disposable and deportable further illustrates the exploitative nature of guestworker programs.