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The Bracero Program an immigrant worker program that operated twice in the USA 1919 - 1921 and again to cover labor shortages during WWII 1942 - 1964. In the last version 4.6 MILLION workers were brought in to supplement the USA work force.

Wage theft , human rights abuses, racism, bigotry and employee abuse ruined the programs chance of success. 

Since Reagan era reforms, the abuse of migrant labor and the inability for the USA to set and keep a standard  for migrant and immigrant labor has been a huge issue. So much so that it has sprouted once again the horns of  racism and exploitation.

Exploitation happens when a "second class society" is formed by our labor practices. These are people who work, intentionally flying under the radar. Rife with abuse, migrant laborers fall prey to substandard wages, work related injury, untreated medical conditions, sexual and physical abuse, legal harassment and threats of deportation. 

5% - 10% of workers in the USA fall into the "undocumented" category. With no legal pathway  for migratory labor or to fill the ads for jobs listed by USA companies in Mexico, Central and South America, workers struggle to fit in with claims of workers needed and no legal manner to go to that work. These ads read "If you can get to such and such corporation we will employ you". 

The Heartland Mamas are proposing a new Bracero program with LEGAL opportunities to fill worker shortages, utilizing the American Federation of Labor to over see this program.

Because Bracero programs have been influenced by donor money in the past that has lowered work place and wage standards, this is not  a program that should be run through the Department of Labor, but rather through our labor UNIONS. 

Allowing Labor Unions in Meat Packing, Health Care, Service Providers for housekeeping and domestic work and agriculture, helps determine the need and then facilitates employment. Like "Getting on the Book" for any Union job. 

These are jobs that are not filled by domestic workers due to being seasonal or often because they are repetitive or considered tedious by the American workforce. Those re not Heartland Mamas words, those come straight from UCLA reports on migrant/immigrant labor. 

Worker visas are so difficult to obtain because of bigotry and the fear that these workers are taking jobs from US workers. This cannot be backed up with fact. In fact, orchards and crops are going unharvested, cows unmilked, meat unprocessed, care givers are very difficult to find as are nannies, and other domestic and home health occupations. Because USA workers simply do not want those jobs. 

Making a pathway through a modernized Bracero program only makes sense. Union over site will assure US workers that these are jobs not taken from American workers. It also guarantees wage theft protections, worker safety, protection from sexual and physical abuse, etc

We know Agriculture is the largest employer of migrant laborers. In Dairy alone up to 70% of workers might be undocumented workers. Food producers are always pressed to keep prices artificially low and underpaid over worked workers are the easiest solution.

Lets make a path. Lets make it safe and legal. Lets get people to work and paying taxes. We have tried every wrong way to do this. It is past time to do it right! 

We cannot confuse migrant laborers with asylum seekers that are caught up in the mess at our southern border. Right now our government has lumped everything together creating a much larger mess to sort out. 

Plan(in a very rough outline):

An employer would fill out an application for migrant workers. The jobs would last 4 months - 2 years.  Outlined is a wage and housing scale with health care and workman's compensation insurance. 

The jobs would be submitted to the AFL-CIO  or another b