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92_SR0249
SDS/92ASR0004/LThs
1 SENATE 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 agricultureal fields and
8 railroads as a part of the Bracero program from 1942 to 1965;
9 and
10 WHEREAS, A provision of the program allowed for 10
11 percent of the wages that the workers earned from 1942 to
12 1949 to be deducted and put into savings accounts; and
13 WHEREAS, This portion of their wages was to be transfered
14 through the United States government to Mexico's central bank
15 and Mexican banks were to pay out the funds to the former
16 Bracero workers upon their return to Mexico; and
17 WHEREAS, Many Bracero workers were never told about the
18 savings fund nor how to collect the money deducted from their
19 salary; and
20 WHEREAS, When the former Bracero workers who knew of the
21 fund attempted to collect their wages from the Mexican banks,
22 many were unable to do so; and
23 WHEREAS, The disposition of these funds is currently
24 unknown; and
25 WHEREAS, At the time the former Bracero workers attempted
26 to claim their earnings the account would have been worth
27 from thirty million dollars ($30,000,000) to sixty million
28 dollars ($60,000,000); and
29 WHEREAS, After more than 50 years, a number of lawsuits
30 have been filed this year for the purpose of recouping these
-2- SDS/92ASR0004/LThs
1 funds for the former Bracero workers; and
2 WHEREAS, The former Bracero workers deserve to be heard
3 in court and to have this issue resolved; therefore be it
4 RESOLVED, BY THE SENATE OF THE NINETY-SECOND GENERAL
5 ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we urge the United
6 States Attorney General to make the resolution of this issue
7 a priority; and be it futher
8 RESOLVED, That we urge the United States Congress to
9 enact appropriate legislation requiring the United States
10 Attorney General to resolve this case on its merits and not
11 defend the action based upon legal technicalities including,
12 but not limited to, statute of limitations, laches, lack of
13 jurisdiction and the like; and be it further
14 RESOLVED, That we urge the United States government to
15 fully cooperate in the effort to determine why money owed to
16 Bracero workers was not paid, including making available all
17 records relating to the savings fund program; and be it
18 further
19 RESOLVED, That we urge the United States government
20 through appropiate diplomtic channels to seek the full
21 cooperation of the Mexican government in the effort to
22 determine why money owed to Bracero workers was not paid,
23 including making available all records from the Mexican
24 government and public banking institutions relating to the
25 savings fund program; and be it further
26 RESOLVED, That sitable copies of this preamble and
27 resolution be presented to the Unites States Attorney General
28 and the United States Secretary of State, the Speaker of the
29 United States House of Representatives, the majority and
30 minority leaders of the House of Representatives and the
31 majority and minority leaders of the United States Senate.