Guest workers typically perform low or semi-skilled agricultural, industrial, or domestic labor in countries with workforce shortages, and they return home once their contract has expired.
Initially created in 1942 as an emergency procedure to alleviate wartime labor shortages, the program actually lasted until 1964, bringing approximately 4.5 million legal Mexican workers into the United States during its lifespan.
[6] The Bracero Program expanded during the early 1950s, admitting more than 400,000 Mexican workers for temporary employment per year until 1959 when numbers began a steady decline.
[6] While illegal immigration was a concern of both the United States and Mexico, the Bracero Program was seen as a partial solution to the upsurge of undocumented worker entries.
[1] Critics have noted widespread abuses of the program: workers had ten percent of their wages withheld for planned pensions but the money was often never repaid.
[7] Workers also were de-loused with DDT at border stations and were often placed in housing conditions deemed ‘highly inadequate’ by the Farm Service Agency.
[8] Other scholars who interviewed workers have highlighted some of the more positive aspects of the program, including the higher potential wages a bracero could earn in the United States.
[16] Reform provisions, which included a pathway under which guest workers could gain legal permanent residence status, were not enacted into law.
Bill S.2611, passed by the Senate in May 2006, included provisions for a guest worker program following the general guidelines of President Bush's proposed plan.
"[26][27] The senators in this group are Marco Rubio (R-Fla.), John McCain (R-Ariz.), Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.), Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill), Robert Menendez (D-N.J.), Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Michael Bennet (D-Colo.).
[27] Representatives of business and labor have negotiated the terms of a guest worker program for the current attempt at a comprehensive immigration bill.
[28] The U.S. Chamber of Commerce, which represents many American business interests, and the AFL–CIO, the nation's largest federation of unions, have been conducting ongoing talks.
These two groups released a joint statement listing three points of agreement regarding any guest worker program on February 21, 2013.
After continuing talks, it was unofficially announced at the end of March that labor and business groups had come to an agreement regarding the conditions for a guest worker program.
The proposed Act would create a new class of W-visas for lower-skilled temporary workers, as well as a new agency, the Bureau of Immigration and Labor Market Research (BILMR), to set annual caps on visas and monitor the program.
"[33] Consistent with the joint statement released by the AFL–CIO and the Chamber of Commerce, W-visa holders cannot be hired if there are US workers ready and willing to take the position.
[32] The proposed guest worker program is supported by several groups, including the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL–CIO, and Citizenship and Immigration Services.
Further analysis of the Bracero Program revealed that sending workers to the U.S. alleviated the strain on the Mexico's resources and helped combat domestic unemployment by encouraging citizens to seek work abroad.
[40] Others add that a lack of government involvement by both the United States and the guest workers' country of residency is to blame for the prevalence of payment withholding.
[40][45] Research suggest that guest workers are more willing to endure abusive environments and low wages, regardless of the labor rights they are given under the visa programs, due their inability to switch employers and lack of social safety nets.
[46] Experts are skeptical of this approach, as it may discourage the use of legal guest workers, leading growers to employ cheaper, undocumented laborers.
Most Mexican workers are male, married, and over 25 years of age, who leave their families behind in Mexico; their average stay in Canada is four months.
[61] In response to wartime physical and capital losses, West Germany imported guest workers after the end of World War II to speed up the postwar reconstruction process.
The Federal Labor Office recruited low and semi-skilled workers from Mediterranean countries; the initial bilateral agreement was with Italy, the program expanded to include Greece, Turkey, Morocco, Portugal, Tunisia and Yugoslavia.