Government report responding to Strangers in Our Fields, a book critiquing conditions for laborers in the Bracero Program, 1956.
In 1956, labor organizer Ernesto Galarza published a book, Strangers in Our Fields, reporting on the conditions faced by braceros in the United States. The book begins with this statement from a worker: "In this camp, we have no names. We are called only by numbers." The book concludes that workers in the program were lied to, cheated and "shamefully neglected.” In this report, federal officials attempt to refute Galarza’s findings point by point. These officials are reporting from Region X of the Bureau of Secure Employment (part of the Department of Labor), which covers Alaska, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington.