Mexicans Protest for Back Pay

About 200 Mexicans who worked in the United States during and after World War II protested Monday in front of the U.S. Embassy and the president’s residence to demand back pay.

An estimated 300,000 workers, known as braceros, were contracted by the U.S. government to relieve a labor shortage during World War II.

For several years, about 10% of the workers’ paychecks were withheld for savings and pension funds that were supposed to be paid to them once they returned to Mexico. Many of the workers said they never received the money.

Last month, President Bush proposed a jobs program for migrants who now work in the United States, prompting braceros to demand that they also be paid.

On Monday, braceros in straw hats gathered outside the U.S. Embassy, demanding that the American government help track down the salary withholdings, which some said disappeared after being deposited in Mexican banks.

The braceros then marched to Los Pinos, the official residence of President Vicente Fox.

On Saturday, the braceros pushed their way past guards at Fox’s family ranch in Guanajuato state to demand their money.

Fox ordered a criminal complaint filed against the protesters, Interior Minister Santiago Creel said at a news conference Monday.

“No one can be permitted to invade someone else’s property to complain or make a demand,” Creel said.

The braceros “feel tricked and used,” said Francisco Arredondo, a leader in the National Braceros Assn. The association was not involved in Saturday’s incident but led the march to the presidential residence.

Interior Ministry officials met with protest leaders for six hours inside the presidential residence, said a statement released by Fox’s office.

In 2002, a U.S. federal judge in San Francisco dismissed, largely on technical grounds, most of a class-action suit filed on behalf of the workers.