President. I shall not read the entire note. but I wish to quote excerpts pertaining to this program in relation to the previous "wetback" problem: The Governments of Mexico and the United States have for many years been faced with the problem of the illegal entry of Mexican workers into United States territory in search of work. The maximum number of arrests made by the Immigration Service of the United States reached 803.618 in 1953. a year in which only 201.380 workers were contracted. Since that time the efforts of the two Governments to eliminate illegal entries. at the same time leaving the door open under the legal procedures of the international migrant labor agreement of 1951. produced the desired results. the number of arrests having been reduced to 31.106 in 1959. during which year 437.643 workers were contracted. It was precisely the presence of the "wetbacks" in the fields of the United States that created a situation undesirable from every standpoint. since these persons had not even the most elementary kind of protection and were the victims of exploitation in respect of wages. because they were forced to accept whatever pay was offered to them. and domestic workers were unable to compete and found themselves compelled to move to other areas. The lack of an agreement to facilitate contracting as long as there is a shortage of farm labor. which the Mexican workers have been covering. would tend to bring about a return to that situation.
Keywords matched
Immigration migrant