Interview no. 1328

Mr. Adame very briefly describes his family and childhood; he recalls going to Chihuahua, Chihuahua, México, with his father and brother, to enlist as braceros; in order to be allowed into the contracting center, they had to pay, and even then they still had to stay there for a week, and sometimes even longer; they also had to spend money just to sleep on the floor of a hotel while they waited for a contract; once called, they were stripped and medically examined; from there they were transported by cargo train to Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, México, and then taken to El Paso, Texas, where they were assessed again and deloused; they were then transferred to Rio Vista, a processing center in Socorro, Texas, before finally being taken to their worksites; each time he was contracted he went through this entire process; as a bracero, he worked in the beet and cotton fields of Colorado, Montana, and Texas; he goes on to detail the various worksites, duties, living amenities, provisions, payment, treatment, recreational activities, and remittances; in addition, he mentions that he often worked for the same employer in Texas; moreover, he details the extreme difficulty of using the short hoe, for hours on end, when laboring in the beet fields; after the program ended, he worked in the United States illegally for a time, but he was ultimately able to gain citizenship; he concludes by stating that he is proud to have been a bracero, because he was able to help not only himself, but the United States as well