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Presidential Paper Historical Series: 154 - Special Message to the Congress on the Employment of Agricultural Workers from Mexicoby President Harry S Truman: 1945-1953
154 - Special Message to the Congress on the Employment of Agricultural
Workers from Mexico To the Congress of the United States:
I have approved S. 984, an Act relating to the recruitment and
employment of agricultural workers from Mexico. If promptly followed up by other needed measures, this Act
can be a first step toward a comprehensive program to bring
badly needed improvements in the living and working conditions
of migratory farm workers, both foreign and domestic. At the
same time, this Act can help to assure an adequate supply of
labor to meet the needs of American agriculture. On the other
hand, if enactment of this legislation becomes an excuse for
delay on these other measures, it will hamper our efforts to
meet more basic problems-including the pressing problem of
illegal immigration. For that reason, I could not have given my approval to this
Act had I not been assured by Congressional leaders that
supplementary legislation and appropriations would receive
prompt consideration at this session.
For many years, the Mexican Government, by agreement with the
United States, has allowed its citizens to come into this
country on contracts with agricultural employers to assist in
harvesting vital crops--principally cotton, sugar beets,
citrus fruits, and vegetables-and mostly in the southwestern
part of the United States. During and since the last war, the recurrent shortages of
farm labor in the United States have made the addition of
contract workers from Mexico a vital factor in bringing in the
crops. Last year, for example, 70,000 Mexican workers were
legally admitted to this country for contract work during the
harvesting season. However, both this Government and the Mexican Government
have become increasingly concerned about violations of the
contract terms under which Mexican citizens are employed in
this country. We must make sure that contract wages will in
fact be paid, that transportation within this country and
adequate reception centers for Mexican workers will in fact be
provided. It is necessary, therefore, that this Government be
able to stand behind all contracts and guarantee performance
in the future, if any more Mexican citizens are to be legally
recruited for work in the United States. Until this can be
done, Mexico has taken steps to terminate the agreement under
which her citizens were brought to this country in the past
and will make a new agreement only if these guarantees are
given. It is the purpose of S. 984 to give this Government the
authority needed to make a mutually satisfactory new agreement
with Mexico, which would include these guarantees. Under the
terms of this Act, the United States Government, subject to a
fixed reimbursement by the employer, will be able to recruit
and transport Mexican workers to reception centers in this
country, to house and care for these workers until they are
employed, to help them make arrangements with American
employers, and to guarantee performance by employers of the
terms of their employment contracts. With this authority, it should be possible to reach a new
agreement with Mexico. This Act will thus take care of one
immediate problem, the harvesting of crops this year. It will
also undoubtedly improve the situation of Mexican workers
brought into this country for contract work. A
government-to-government guarantee of wages and work standards
for these workers will be a real step forward. But this is very limited progress, which hardly touches our
basic farm labor problems. The really crucial point, which
this Act scarcely faces, is the steady stream of illegal
immigrants from Mexico, the so-called "wetbacks", who cross
the Rio Grande or the western stretches of our long border, in
search of employment. These people are coming into our country
in phenomenal numbers--and at an increasing rate. Last year
500,000 illegal immigrants were apprehended and returned to
Mexico. In 1949, less than 300,000 were returned. There are many thousands of these people who have escaped
detection and remain in this country today. Thousands more
will find their way here before the year is out. Since these
unfortunate people are here legally, they are subject to
deportation if caught by our immigration authorities. They
have to hide and yet must work to live. They are thus in no
position to bargain with those who might choose to exploit
them. And many of them are exploited, I regret to say, and are
left in abject poverty. They live always under the threat of
exposure and deportation. They are unable, therefore, to
protest or to protect themselves. The presence of these illegal workers has a seriously
depressing effect on wages and working conditions in farm
areas throughout the southwest. The standards of living and
job opportunities of American farm workers are under constant
downward pressure. Thousands of our own citizens, particularly
those of Latin descent, are displaced from employment or
forced to work under substandard conditions because of the
competition of these illegal immigrants. Everyone suffers from the presence of these illegal
immigrants in the community. They themselves are hurt, first
of all. Our own workers--as well as the legal contract workers
from Mexico-are hurt by the lowering of working and living
standards. And the farmers are hurt, too. Instead of a well
trained, reliable supply of workers, they are increasingly
dependent on a rapidly-shifting, ill-trained domestic labor
force, supplemented legally or illegally from foreign sources.
They face a crisis in their labor supply at every season. They
are forced, year after year, to makeshift last minute measures
to save their crops. The President's Commission on Migratory Labor, in its
recent report on the situation throughout the
Nation,1 put the issue this way:
1The report of the President's Commission on
Migratory Labor is entitled "Migratory Labor in American
Agriculture" (Government Printing Office, 1951, 188 pp.). "Shall we continue indefinitely to have low work standards
and conditions of employment in agriculture thus depending on
the underprivileged and the unfortunate at home and abroad to
supply and replenish our seasonal and migratory work force? Or
shall we do in agriculture what we already have done in other
sectors of our economy-create honest-to-goodness jobs which
will Offer a decent living so that domestic workers, without
being forced by dire necessity, will be willing to stay in
agriculture and become a dependable labor supply? Just as farm
employers want able and willing workers when needed, so do
workers want reliable jobs which yield a fair living. Neither
is being satisfied." S. 984 does not face up to that basic issue. The Act does,
it is true, provide that Mexican workers may not legally be
brought in unless the Secretary of Labor certifies a real
shortage of domestic workers. The Act also provides that
employment of Mexican contract labor must not adversely affect
wages or working conditions of domestic workers. But these
safeguards have little meaning so long as illegal immigration
continues--so long as illegal workers are in fact used by
American employers to take the place of other workers. If we are to begin to meet the basic problem, we must do
two things right away. First, we must put a stop to the
employment of illegal immigrants. Second, we must improve the
use of our domestic labor force. These steps will require more
sanctions than our laws now provide and more administrative
machinery and services than are now available. Therefore, I
recommend that the Congress take the following action: First, legislation should be enacted providing punishment
for the offense of harboring or concealing aliens who have
entered this country illegally. While we have a law on the
books purporting to make this an offense, that law is not
enforceable, because no penalty was adequately provided. This
should be remedied at once. In addition, to help discourage
the smuggling of aliens, the existing provisions of law
punishing transportation of illegal immigrants must be
strengthened. While such legislation will be very useful in
bringing illegal immigration from Mexico under control, it
will also be a valuable addition to our general immigration
laws. Second, legislation should be enacted to clearly establish
the authority of personnel of the Immigration and
Naturalization Service to inspect places of employment,
without a warrant, where they have reason to believe that
illegal immigrants are working or quartered. Immigration
inspectors are able to cope with known illegal immigrants by
obtaining warrants for their arrest. But where there are
places of employment, consisting of many acres of land on
which many workers are employed and quartered, inspection is
necessary to find out whether illegal immigrants are among
those workers. The inspections would involve no more, and
probably a good deal less, than inspections of mines or
factories by public authorities to assure compliance with
accident prevention laws. Of course, a farmer's dwelling
should be safe from search without a warrant. But there is no
reason why other premises which serve as places of employment
should not be open for inspection to aid in the enforcement of
our immigration laws. Third, a supplemental appropriation should be made
available immediately to the Immigration and Naturalization
Service to expand its personnel in the southwest so that all
types of enforcement work can be stepped up--including
apprehension, investigation, and deportation of illegal
entrants. I shall shortly send a budget estimate for this
purpose to the Congress. It is absolutely impossible, without the expenditure of
very large amounts of manpower and money, to seal off our long
land borders to all illegal immigration. But these three
actions by the Congress will give us the tools we need to find
and deport illegal immigrants once here and to discourage
those of our own citizens who are aiding and abetting their
movement into the country. In this connection, I am glad to report that the Government
of Mexico is contemplating more stringent measures on its own
account to help curtail illegal crossings of our border. As a fourth measure for immediate Congressional action, I
shall shortly forward to the Congress a supplemental budget
estimate for the Farm Placement Service of the Labor
Department. It is not enough to take strong action against the stream
of illegal immigrants. If we are to make real progress toward
solving our basic farm labor problem, we must improve the
utilization of our own citizens in the farm labor force, and
reduce to a minimum our dependence on foreign sources. As a
first step, we need at once to strengthen the machinery of the
Department of Labor for surveying labor market needs and
recruiting workers to fill these needs. This will be essential
if we are to do an effective job under S. 984, in deciding how
many contract workers to bring across the border and where
they ought to be employed. It will be essential if we are to
make this importation of foreign workers truly supplemental to
our own resources of farm labor and give the fullest
opportunity to those of our citizens who seek employment on
the farm. The additional funds for the Farm Placement Service will be
used to expand labor market studies which will be undertaken
in cooperation with the Department of Agriculture. These funds
will also permit an expansion of the field staff in rural
areas, where large-scale employment of farm labor is required.
The aim in these areas will be to find out exactly what
workers are needed and find the right workers to do the
job. Finally, these funds will be used to expand the
Government's operations in the manner required under S. 984,
including transportation and reception of Mexican workers,
inspection of contract operations and handling of
complaints. Unless all of these activities of the Farm Placement
Service can be built up quickly and effectively, orderly
operations under S. 984 will be impossible and we will lose
the chance to make full use of our domestic supply of farm
workers or to determine on a realistic basis our need for
workers from abroad. These four measures, supplementing the provisions of S.
984, will give us a real program with which to tackle the
basic problems of farm labor in the southwest. They will help
us also to make a start in other areas where agriculture is
dependent on large-scale use of migratory workers. There is one provision of S. 984 which could interfere
quite seriously with our efforts to maintain labor standards
in this country. This is the provision which so defines
agricultural employment as to allow the Secretary of Labor to
bring in Mexican workers for employment in food processing
trades as well as on the farm. It is essential that we keep
the importation of Mexican workers from reducing the job
opportunities or working conditions of our own citizens
employed in these trades. To that end, I believe the Congress
should repeal this provision. In the meantime, it will be
necessary for the Secretary of Labor to use his discretion
with great care and to authorize the employment of Mexican
workers in these trades only in case of some genuine,
unmistakable emergency. The measures which I am now recommending to the Congress
will not take care of all our problems by any means. The
president's Commission on Migratory Labor, a group of
distinguished citizens, recently completed an extensive
investigation of migratory labor problems throughout the
country.. The Commission's report was submitted two months ago
and is being intensively studied within the Executive Branch.
It is a very useful and constructive document and it
emphasizes, among other things, that the migratory workers in
this country will need specially adapted programs to improve
housing conditions and health, education, and social security.
They will need these things if they are to develop into the
kind of labor force so badly needed in agriculture today--a
labor force which really meets the long-run requirements of
large-scale "industrialized" farm production. From time to time, therefore, as the report of this
Commission is studied and appraised, I intend to send further
recommendations to the Congress, looking toward more
improvements in the working conditions and living standards of
our migrant workers. Meanwhile, it is my earnest hope that the
Congress will lose no time in acting on the recommendations
outlined in this
message. NOTE: As enacted, S. 984 is Public Law 78, Bad Congress (65
Stat. 119). On August 16 the President approved H.J. Res. 311, making
interim appropriations to the Department of Labor to begin the
task of bringing Mexican farm workers into the United States
under the terms of Public Law 78. For the statement by the
President upon signing the bill see Item 192. On March 20, 1952, the President approved S. 1851, an act
giving immigration officers additional authority to prevent
Mexican farm workers from entering or remaining in the United
States illegally (Public Law 283, 82d Cong.; 66 Stat. 26).
Reprinted with permission from John Wolley and Gerhard Peters of the Department of Political Science at the University of California, Santa Barbara at the American Presidency Project.
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