Deportee

Except for being memorialized by the social justice folk singer Woody Guthrie, who wrote and sung Deportee, this DC-3 crash would be just another obscure accident site. You may read the lyrics to Deportee on The Woody Guthrie Foundation website.

Woody Guthrie had the mistaken understanding of the bracero program, which was created by the U.S. Congress in 1942 and by an agreement between the United States and Mexico. The law permitted Mexican farm laborers into the United States to work on farms because of the sever labor shortage caused by World War II. The agreement with Mexico required the United States to guarantee transportation and repatriation of all Mexicans entering the United States under this program. The labor contractors were expected to provide transportation to and from the border. If the contractor or farmer failed to provide transportation back to Mexico, then the U.S. Immigration Service was required to repatriation the Mexican citizens. Being a "Deportee" in this fashion was simply the U.S. government meeting their obligation under the treaty and in no way affected the labor status of the bracero.