bracero

American  

[bruh-sair-oh, brah-, brah-se-raw] / brəˈsɛər oʊ, brɑ-, brɑˈsɛ rɔ /

noun

• braceros
  plural

1. a Mexican laborer admitted legally into the U.S. for a short period to perform seasonal, usually agricultural, labor.

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Other Word Forms

Noun Inflected Forms

• braceros
  plural

Etymology

Origin of bracero

First recorded in 1915–20; from Spanish: “laborer,” literally, “one who swings his arms,” equivalent to brazo “arm” + -ero; see origin at brace, -ary

Explanation

From the 1940s to the 1960s, temporary Mexican workers in the United States were called braceros. An official agreement between the countries included a minimum wage and workplace protections for the braceros. In Spanish, bracero means "one who works with his arms." These laborers filled an acute need for able-bodied farm workers in the U.S. during and after World War II. 1942's Mexican Farm Labor Agreement guaranteed room and board for braceros who moved temporarily to the U.S., as well as minimum pay of 30 cents per hour. The program was renewed several times but eventually became controversial as American workers came to view it as a threat to their employment.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

bracero braceros

United Farmworkers lobbied Congress to end the bracero program, arguing that the program exploited workers.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

Limón’s grandfather picked strawberries in Oxnard after coming to the U.S. through the state’s bracero program.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 4, 2026

Her father, a butcher by trade, emigrated and found work as a bracero picking crops in fields up and down the West Coast.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 25, 2025

Some previously undocumented migrants acquired work contracts through the bracero program, which allowed for Mexican citizens to work legally in the U.S. between 1942 and 1964.

From Salon ● Sep. 21, 2024

One day he got so sick at work that Ito took him back to the bracero camp.

From "Breaking Through" by Francisco Jiménez

According to Huerta, many of the men who came to work as braceros had no experience with the type of labor they would encounter upon their arrival.

From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 24, 2026

His father, Leonardo, came to the U.S. in the 1960s from La Noria, Durango, along with four brothers to work as braceros and dishwashers before opening a chain of nightclubs that bear Leonardo’s name.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jan. 17, 2025

Under the program, millions of Mexican laborers, known as braceros, were recruited to work on temporary contracts in various sectors, primarily agriculture, but also in railroad construction and other industries.

From Salon ● Mar. 26, 2024

The book also documents how many braceros lost their savings funds.

From Los Angeles Times ● Jul. 18, 2022

And while it is true that many families are descended from contract colonists not unlike the present-day braceros, all hold to the dream of the longhorn steer and the unfenced horizon.

From "Travels with Charley in Search of America" by John Steinbeck