My amendment provided that the Secretary of Labor should not authorize the entry of Mexican nationals for farm labor except for the cultivation and harvest of food supplies. This would exclude the use of braceros on cotton farms. which is in surplus which our Government subsidizes and which is costing our Government storage charges because of the surplus. That amendment was defeated. but not my interest in this growing subject of migrant labor. I decided to see for myself. As a member of the Appropriations Committee Subcommittee on Agriculture. I visited several areas in California and in Arkansas during the week of July 18. 1960. shortly after the debate. I was accompanied by a staff officer. Ross Pope and Congressman ROLAND LIBONATI. of Illinois. a member of the Judiciary Committee. who was deeply interested in the immigration aspects of the importation of these braceros. We sought to observe the type of agricultural conditions in these areas and to study farm labor problems with respect to both domestic farmworkers and Mexican nationalsbraceros. Throughout my trip I was accompanied by representatives of the Department of Labor and the Department of Agriculture.
Keywords matched
immigration migrant