4/10 Sac Press Conf:Ex-Braceros Demand Justice; Oppose New Guest Worker Program In Current Immigration Reform Talks
Press Advisory
9 April 2013
WHO: Association of Braceros of Northern California
WHAT: Press Conference marking the delivery of petitions from former Braceros – Mexican guest workers who toiled on U.S. farms and in manufacturing from 1942 to 1964 – and a nationwide rally in support of comprehensive immigration reform, but opposing another guest worker program.
WHERE: Consulate General of Mexico, 2093 Arena Blvd, Sacramento, CA 95834
WHEN: 11:30 am. Wednesday, April 10, 2013
CONTACT: Luis Magaña, (209) 405-1213; lmagana(at)afsc.org

EX-BRACEROS DEMAND JUSTICE; OPPOSE NEW GUEST WORKER PROGRAM IN CURRENT IMMIGRATION REFORM TALKS

Sacramento, CA (4/9/13) – Members of the Association of Braceros of Northern California – many of them former migrant farmworkers -- will stage a protest and petition the Mexican Consul in Sacramento on Wednesday, April 10, demanding that Mexico’s new government fulfill a promise to return funds withheld from wages of thousands of Mexican laborers who toiled as guest workers on farms and in factories in the United States.
The new administration of Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto earlier this year froze funds the government had promised to workers who participated in the labor treaty between the U.S. and Mexico, commonly known as the Bracero Program. The move stunned former braceros from Northern California who had struggled in court for almost a decade before finally winning a promise of a refund from the Mexican government. The money was deducted from paychecks of workers and was supposed to support savings accounts for the laborers. Most of the money went missing, however, or was used for other purposes by the Mexican government.
The aging former braceros, many of whom now live in the Sacramento and San Joaquin valleys, on Wednesday will also launch a campaign to oppose a new guest worker program that is expected to be part of the comprehensive immigration reform package being negotiated by lawmakers in Washington, D.C. “There appear to be plans for the resurgence of modern slavery, as part of an immigration proposal, while the two countries ignore the unresolved injustices committed against us,” said Sotero O. Cervantes of 92 years and former bracero of Stockton