Letter: Need better program for hiring farmworkers — not a wall

In 1951, the Bracero program was established. It was a system for bringing in Mexican farmworkers and providing good working conditions, sleeping quarters and an established wage; it also withheld 10 percent of their wages, which were given to them upon their return to Mexico.

This was a successful program that had as many as 500,000 participants in a years’ time. For reasons that I don’t understand, the program was terminated in 1964. Since that time, we have been plagued with the undocumented coming across the border to find work. We have spent tens of millions of dollars trying to keep them out, with limited degrees of success.

Now our president wants to build a wall that will keep them out, at a cost of about 12 billion dollars. We all know that the federal government is not good when it comes to expensive building projects. Our own vit plant is a good example.

What sounds better, an updated version of a Bracero program that costs a fraction of the wall with a successful record, or another attempt at stopping determined migrants by giving out lavish contracts to companies that would probably hire Mexican labor to build the darn thing.

This story was originally published May 16, 2017 at 12:09 PM with the headline "Letter: Need better program for hiring farmworkers — not a wall."