World War II Homefront Era: 1940s: Bracero Program Establishes New Migration Patterns

Mexican workers are seen arriving by train in 1942 as part of the Bracero program. Hundreds of thousands of workers, many of whom were experienced farm laborers, were brought by train from Mexico's interior to the border. Many impoverished Mexicans stopped working their farms to follow the dream of earning vast amounts of money in the fields of the American Southwest, particularly in California and Texas.