federal government, not only did the
government frequently ignore the prac-
tice, but it also provided growers with
legal loopholes to protect it. In 1947, for
example, an agreement between the
United States and Mexico allowed
deported mojados to return to the United
States with temporary labor contracts to
work for the same employers who had
turned them in to the government as ille-
gals. While these temporary contracts
were in effect, the migrants could not be
deported again. This provision led to a
practice known as “drying out the wet-
backs,” in which employers would report
their illegal migrants to the border patrol,
which would then ship the laborers back
across the border, where they would sign
labor agreements and return.The El Paso Incident
and the Second
Bracero ProgramWhile the practice of “drying out wet-
backs” was embraced in Texas, growers in
states where the bracero program was not
banned made sure that the program was
renewed in 1947, even though it was sup-
posed to have terminated shortly after end
of World War II. The demand for farm
produce was booming, and growers could
use bracero labor to hold down wages.
Hence the bracero program was renewed
with a U.S.-Mexico agreement in 1948.
An event known as the El Paso inci-
dent temporarily derailed it, however.
Texas cotton growers instituted a maxi-
mum bracero wage of $2.50 per 100
pounds of cotton, even though the going
nonbracero rate was $3.00. Mexico
protested, refusing to supply braceros
unless they also received $3.00. In
October 1948, under pressure from
growers, the U.S. Immigration and
Naturalization Service (INS) took an
action that circumvented Mexico’s resist-
ance: it opened the border at El Paso to
Mexican workers, who poured into Texas
despite Mexico’s efforts to stop them.
The Mexicans were then transported to
labor camps to pick cotton at the $2.50
wage, which satisfied them if not the
Mexican government.
In response to the El Paso incident,
for which the United States formally
apologized, Mexico renounced the
bracero agreement. But the flow ofundocumented workers did not stop, and
both governments agreed some controls
had to be instituted. In August 1949 a
new bracero agreement was instituted,
one that penalized growers who hired
undocumented workers, legalized undoc-
umented workers already in the United
States, and stressed suppression of illegal
entry. Dissatisfied with the program’s
safeguards of worker rights, Mexico took
the opportunity to strengthen them when
the United States needed to step up the
program to supply labor needs during the
Korean War (1950–1953). Under Public
Law 78, passed in 1951, the Department
of Labor took charge of braceros, trans-
porting them and guaranteeing fair labor
practices, including a minimum wage at
prevailing rates. This agreement led to a
great increase in the number of braceros,
from fewer than 100,000 in 1950 to near-
ly 200,000 in 1951.
After the Korean War ended, grow-
ers repeatedly persuaded the United
States to extend Public Law 78 and con-
tinue the bracero program. During the
peak period of 1955 to 1959, an average
of nearly 430,000 braceros per year
entered the United States. From the ini-
tiation of Public Law 78 to its demise in
1964, about 25 percent of all seasonal
farm workers in Texas, California,
Arizona, and New Mexico were braceros.
Several factors led to the end of the
bracero program. Demand for labor fell
as growers increasingly mechanized their
farms. Civil rights and labor organiza-
tions protested the program as a way of
keeping wages low and exploiting work-
ers. In addition, a $1 per hour minimum
wage for braceros, instituted in 1962,
made it more expensive for growers to
hire braceros, making the arrangement
undesirable to growers. In 1964 Public
Law 78 at last expired, ending the bracero
program.Operation Wetback
At the same time that the bracero pro-
gram brought millions of Mexicans to the
United States, millions of other Mexicans
entered through other means, legal and
illegal. Some came on permanent or tem-
porary visas; others came without any
documents, slipping illicitly over the bor-
der, often with the help of coyotes, or
smugglers. Some stayed permanently;170 ATLAS OF HISPANIC-AMERICAN HISTORY
HISPANIC
HEROES IN
KOREA AND
VIETNAM
As in all the nation’s wars dating back
to the American Revolution, Hispanic
Americans fought for their country in
the Korean War (1950–1953) and the
Vietnam War (1954–1975). Nine
Hispanic Americans received the
Congressional Medal of Honor for
valorous action in the Korean War,
and one all-Hispanic unit served: the
Puerto Rican 65th Infantry Regiment.
Numerous Hispanics received the
Medal of Honor for action in the
Vietnam era, and analysis of casualty
figures indicates that Hispanic
Americans in Vietnam laid down
their lives in battle in numbers dispro-
portionate to their representation
in the population. Also noteworthy in
the Vietnam era is Hispanic-American
resistance to the war. In 1970 the
National Chicano Moratorium
Committee was founded to protest
U.S. involvement in the war and
the high number of Hispanic-
American casualties.