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92_HR0527
LRB9211040RHrh
1 HOUSE RESOLUTION
2 WHEREAS, Beginning sixty years ago, because of the labor
3 shortage due to the United States World War II effort, the
4 federal government issued contracts to Mexicans willing to
5 cross the border for temporary employment; and
6 WHEREAS, As a result, hundreds of thousands of Mexicans
7 worked in the United States agricultural fields and railroads
8 as a part of the Bracero program from 1942 to 1965; and
9 WHEREAS, A provision of the program allowed for 10
10 percent of the wages that the workers earned from 1942 to
11 1949 to be deducted and put into savings accounts; and
12 WHEREAS, This portion of their wages was to be
13 transferred through the United States government to Mexico's
14 central bank and Mexican banks were to pay out the funds to
15 the former Bracero workers upon their return to Mexico; and
16 WHEREAS, Many Bracero workers were never told about the
17 savings fund nor how to collect the money deducted from their
18 salary; and
19 WHEREAS, When the former Bracero workers who knew of the
20 fund attempted to collect their wages from the Mexican banks,
21 many were unable to do so; and
22 WHEREAS, The disposition of these funds is currently
23 unknown; and
24 WHEREAS, At the time the former Bracero workers attempted
25 to claim their earnings the account would have been worth
26 from thirty million dollars ($30,000,000) to sixty million
27 dollars ($60,000,000); and
28 WHEREAS, After more than 50 years, a number of lawsuits
29 have been filed this year for the purpose of recouping these
30 funds for the former Bracero workers; and
-2- LRB9211040RHrh
1 WHEREAS, The former Bracero workers deserve to be heard
2 in court and to have this issue resolved; therefore be it
3 RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE
4 NINETY-SECOND GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that
5 we urge the United States Attorney General to make the
6 resolution of this issue a priority; and be it further
7 RESOLVED, That we urge the United States government to
8 fully cooperate in the effort to determine why money owed to
9 Bracero workers was not paid, including making available all
10 records relating to the savings fund program; and be it
11 further
12 RESOLVED, That we urge the United States government
13 through appropriate diplomatic channels to seek the full
14 cooperation of the Mexican government in the effort to
15 determine why money owed to Bracero workers was not paid,
16 including making available all records from the Mexican
17 government and public banking institutions relating to the
18 savings fund program; and be it further
19 RESOLVED, That suitable copies of this resolution be
20 presented to the United States Attorney General and the
21 United States Secretary of State.