Modern Day Bracero: H-2 Visas

In my attempts to discover a way to connect the Bracero Program from our Migra! readings, I stumbled upon a Buzzfeed investigative article about H-2 visas. These visas fall under the Labor Department and are described as legal options for "seasonal workers", similar to the Bracero Program, looking to obtain a temporary visa to work in the U.S. However, these visas are in the power of the employers at all times who can deport their workers at a whim. Many are committing atrocities against their employees from rapes and beatings to withholding wages and creating debt hearkening back to the days of indentured servitude.

There are currently 1,000 labor department officials charged with maintaining and investigating grievances against the program that currently has 135 million immigrant participants. (read that again) The Labor Department even released a statement about the H-2 program claiming it is "part of a wider immigration system that is widely acknowledged to be broken, contributing to an uneven playing field where employers who exploit vulnerable workers undermine those who do the right thing.”

The thing is, in other countries H-2 visas aren't being used for exploitation. The UK uses H-2 visas to invite soccer coaches to temporarily coach youth soccer programs. In the U.S. we use it for cheap labor in what has been called by many "modern day slavery". The Bracero Program in Migra! has been compared by some scholars as "a system of ‘colonial labor exploitation’.” (110) But this is still happening today.

The investigation was extensive. Personal accounts of harassment and atrocious living conditions are well documented in the countless court cases being brought against employers and the Labor Department. It's not so hard to find a connection to the history of the Bracero Program. It never ended.

http://www.buzzfeed.com/jessicagarrison/the-new-american-slavery-invited-to-the-us-foreign-workers-f#.md5a2dqZv