The Bracero Program, Operation Wetback, and the Colonial Cycle of Exploitation

The Bracero Program's labor exploitation and Operation Wetback's mass deportations reflect an American colonial mindset of using and discarding migrant communities, highlighting the inherent racism in US policy.

The mid-20th century marks a critical chapter in U.S.-Mexico relations, but perhaps more importantly, it marks a deep historical injustice: the exploitation of Mexican laborers on land that their ancestors once called home.

The period, now referred to as the “Bracero” era, is more than a story of labor exploitation. It’s a reflection of the systematic denial of indigenous people's rights to the land and their agricultural heritage.

These workers, descendants of the first peoples, who pioneered agriculture in the region, were exploited to cultivate the very same land that had been stolen from them by white settlers just a few generations before.

This exploitation of Mexican workers is not just an economic or labor issue but one deeply tied to the colonial legacy of the U.S. border—a border imposed on their ancestral land. The continuing exploitation of their labor today further cements this historic injustice.

The Bracero Program: Exploiting a People on Their Own Land

Launched during World War II, the Bracero Program was framed as a mutually beneficial agreement between the U.S. and Mexico to address labor shortages in agriculture and industry.

However, this narrative conveniently ignored the fact that the Mexican laborers recruited under the program were indigenous to the very lands they were invited to "temporarily" work on.

For many Mexican laborers, participation in the Bracero Program was seen as a chance to support their families in a time of economic hardship, but the conditions they faced were far from the fair and equitable promises outlined in the official agreements.

Workers lived in deplorable conditions, often housed in makeshift shacks with no access to basic amenities.

In places like Phoenix, Arizona, these laborers worked under the searing desert sun, cultivating crops on land that their ancestors had farmed for centuries before European settlers arrived.

This legalized exploitation of Mexican labor under the Bracero Program was made even more egregious by the fact that the workers' knowledge of agriculture and the cultivation of the land was directly passed down from their ancestors, as was the land itself.

The agricultural richness of the region was made possible by indigenous peoples long before the white Europeans arrived and drew their borders, and its bounty was maintained by subsequent generations prior to their displacement from the land.

In fact, some of the canals first used by the Hohokam to facilitate and support agriculture are still in use in Arizona to this day.

Nevertheless, those who managed to remain in the region beyond the establishment of racist border policies of the occupying nation were eventually targeted for “repatriation” into Mexico, even if they were American citizens.

Unsurprisingly, those invited back under Braceros were treated as disposable, their expertise undervalued, and their connection to the land disregarded.

Racial Supremacy and the Denial of Indigenous Heritage

The deep-rooted racism that Mexican laborers faced during this era was a continuation of the violence and subjugation their ancestors experienced at the hands of European colonizers.

The racial hierarchy in the U.S. relegated Mexican laborers to the bottom of the social ladder, justified by the racist ideology that framed them as inherently inferior.

Classism was also at play, as the agricultural industry was dominated by wealthy white landowners who viewed Mexican labor as nothing more than a commodity to be exploited.

These “landowners,” many of them descendants of settlers who, incentivized by the government, committed genocide in exchange for their land, reaped the benefits of the land’s abundance.

Such abundance, as is often the case, was made possible by the laborers who worked that land, those who mastered the means of production, yet who were denied fair wages, safe working conditions, and basic human dignity.

Operation Wetback: Reinforcing the Theft of Land and Labor

If the Bracero Program represented the exploitation of Mexican labor under the guise of opportunity, Operation Wetback underscored the U.S. government’s view that Mexican workers were a disposable underclass.

Launched in 1954, Operation Wetback sought to deport undocumented Mexican immigrants, but its implementation was marked by widespread racial profiling and the wrongful deportation of U.S. citizens of Mexican descent.

Operation Wetback represented a violent assertion of the U.S. border—an artificial boundary imposed on land that had long been home to indigenous peoples.

Mexican workers, many of whom had crossed this imposed border to work on land their ancestors had farmed, were treated as criminals and forcibly removed from the U.S.

The very term “Wetback,” a racial slur, reflected the dehumanizing attitudes toward Mexican immigrants.

The operation not only reinforced the idea that Mexican workers were expendable but also disregarded the historical reality that these workers were the descendants of the first peoples of the land.

Thousands of workers were rounded up and deported, including many who were U.S. citizens.

These brutal deportation tactics further highlighted the racial supremacy ingrained in U.S. immigration enforcement, where the border was used as a tool to exert white control over land and labor.

The Legacy of Exploitation on Indigenous Land

The injustices faced by Mexican workers during the Bracero era and Operation Wetback have left a lasting legacy that continues to shape U.S. immigration and labor policies.

The same racial and class hierarchies that fueled the exploitation of braceros and the violence of Operation Wetback persist today in the treatment of undocumented workers.

The U.S. economy still relies heavily on the labor of these workers to cultivate the land and provide food, yet their connection to the land and their cultural heritage is ignored, much like during the Bracero era.

Racial profiling and aggressive deportation tactics continue to disproportionately affect Latino communities, perpetuating the same cycle of violence and exclusion that defined Operation Wetback.

Immigration enforcement today, with its emphasis on mass deportations and family separations, echoes the brutal methods used in the mid-20th century.

Reclaiming the Power in Migrant Labor

When reflecting on the Bracero era, it’s necessary to recognize the sacrifices of migrant workers, past and present. Such recognition is incomplete without a full acknowledgement of the struggles they have faced throughout colonial history.

Acknowledging the indigenous roots of the agricultural practices that sustain the U.S. today is an important step in respecting the past and shaping a more just future.

Mexican laborers, both past and present, deserve to be recognized not only as essential workers but as the rightful stewards of the land—a land that was stolen from their ancestors through violence and colonization.