Interview no. 1142

Mr. Trejo very briefly recalls his childhood; when he was nine years old, he and his family moved to Plateros, Zacatecas, México; from there they moved to Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, before returning to Zacatecas; because one of the recruiting and contracting centers was in Zacatecas, Zacatecas, he was aware of the Bracero Program; he recalls that the governor of Zacatecas did not want workers from the cities of Fresnillo or Plateros to be hired as braceros because there was plenty of work for them to stay and do in the mines; in spite of this, he managed to have his name put on the county’s list of workers in Zacatecas; he and other braceros were transported from Zacatecas to Irapuato, Guanajuato, for medical exams and vaccinations; while being transported to Illinois by train, they had to stop because the railroad workers were on strike; he also mentions that he and other braceros had a very good insurance plan; in addition, he goes on to describe how one of his coworkers passed away while working in the cornfields of Illinois, and how the ranchers behaved both during and after the tragic accident