Fairness for Old Braceros

From 1942 to 1964, the United States brought in Mexican farm workers for part of each year to raise and harvest crops under an agreement with Mexico’s government. Depending on whom is asked, the arrangement benefited or exploited about 2.5 million Mexican workers.

The workers’ contracts included a 10% pay deduction intended for a savings fund in Mexico. Only a handful of workers ever knew about or recovered the money, and the fund, estimated at $150 million, has vanished.

Many of these aging braceros, or laborers, recently discovered that they were owed money and are justly demanding payment. Instead, the Mexican government--which controlled the rural bank into which the millions flowed--is giving them a runaround. Alleging that the records are lost, the government has told claimants they must appear personally at one of only 13 locations nationwide to plead their claims, with no certain result.

That is unfair. The Mexican government must establish a simpler way to verify claims, perhaps even through the claimants’ own documents. President Ernesto Zedillo should order his treasury officials to work out a deal with the surviving braceros. If Zedillo’s government could put together a bailout of the national banking system, it can pay these laborers.

The failure by the Mexican government to respond to the braceros could affect the debate in the U.S. Congress about a renewed guest worker program. Mexico should strike a settlement with the workers as swiftly as possible.