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Thousands of 'Braceros' farmworkers have waited more than 60 years to recoup money deducted from their paychecks
Orange County Register
November 5, 2008
It was his hope of rectifying an injustice that fueled Jose Ezequiel Acevedo, even at the end. No distance was too far for him to travel in his effort to help aging farm workers, known as braceros. They – he – sought money earned generations ago as part of a World War II-era program that recruited thousands of Mexicans to harvest U.S. crops and work on our country's railroads. Hundreds of braceros worked in Orange County as part of the program, which lasted until the mid-1960s.
Part of the bracero program called for 10 percent of each paycheck to be deducted and funneled into savings accounts in Mexican banks. That was supposed to encourage workers to return home. But many braceros, including those who went home, never saw the money they'd earned. And a lawsuit filed in recent years in U.S. federal court against the Mexican government has been the hope, for many, of recouping those lost wages.
Learn more about the Braceros case.