Bracero workers being fumigated at Hidalgo Processing Center, photograph by Leonard Nadel, Texas, 1956
Courtesy Leonard Nadel Photographs and Scrapbooks, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Because of a shortage of agricultural labor, the United States created the Bracero (temporary guest worker) program, which brought over 4.5 million people from Mexico to work on U.S. farms and in other industries between 1942 and 1964. “Braceros” crossing the U.S.-Mexico border were required to undergo fumigation for lice with harsh pesticides, such as DDT and lindane. The treatment could make people sick, and in the 1970s, these substances were banned for causing cancer and neurological problems. Pesticide poisoning continues to be a hazard to farm workers exposed to chemicals on the job.
