Immigration 1940's:
Immigration was a thorny issue during the Great Depression. Legislation was already in place barring certain ethnic groups from entering the U.S.. As the depression wore on, immigration into the U.S. declined significantly. The average annual number of immigrants for 1931-1940 was 6,900, a mere trickle compares to the 1.2 million total for the year 1914 alone. During WWII, thousands of Jewish refugees fled Nazi persecution, and a number of them were refused entrance in the United States because of its immigration policy. At the time, America made no distinction between immigrants and refugees. Due to this both groups were subject to immigration quotas. Though aware of Hitler's inhumane actions, Roosevelt made no effort to liberalize immigration laws. The United States did not pursue a rescue policy for Jewish victims until 1944. Due to the war, America didn't have their men to take care of their farms and other jobs. Mexicans came to America to take care of the farms while they were away. Many of these people ended up staying in the U.S. In the 1950's, there were more than 3.4 million illegal immigrants and because of this there was a law enforcement known as "Operation Wetback," meant to eliminate illegal immigration. Immigration 1950's: In 1954, before Operation Wetback started, there were over a million workers who had crossed the United States border illegally. Laborers desired jobs and opportunities to live better. Agricultural works were mostly replaced by cheap labor from Mexico; however, the massive movement also triggered violation of labor laws. The result of Operation Wetback was incredible. General Joseph May Swing generated a military-related movement to search and capture illegal immigrants from Mexico. Illegal immigrants were sent back by force by armed military. On July, the first day of the Wetback, 4,800 illegal immigrants were "gone." The day after, about 1,100 immigrants were sent back per day. During the entirety of the operation, border recruitment of illegal immigrants by American growers continued due largely to the low cost of illegal labor, and the desire of growers to avoid the bureaucratic obstacles of the Bracero program. The continuation of illegal immigration despite the efforts of Operation Wetback was largely responsible of the failure of the program. One problem that arose because of this operation was deportees being sent to unfamiliar parts of Mexico. When they were sent there they had to struggle to find their way home or to continue to support their families. Over 25% of the Mexican immigrants were returned to Veracruz on cargo ships. while others were transported by land to southern cities in Mexico. Those immigrants were often deported without receiving the opportunity to recover their properties in the United States, or to contact their families. They were often stranded without any food or employment when they were released in Mexico. |
This picture is a newspaper article regarding the U.S. allowing German-Jewish refugees to come to the country. During this time America had already established certain immigration laws stating the restrictions on the amount of immigrants allowed here. Laws such as the Immigration Act of 1924, limited the annual number of immigrants who could be admitted into the country. The German-Jews were experiencing terrible events in Germany (Holocaust), and the U.S. knew they needed help. When articles like this were distributed to the people of America they were probably debating whether it would be right to help these people or leave them to figure things out for themselves in their country.
Photograph #2:
After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, America wanted nothing to do with the Japanese people. Being that the U.S. was remaining neutral throughout WW II there was really no reason for the Japanese to attack us. After that tragedy occurred on December 7 of 1941, America had no choice but to get involved. During the war, the U.S. wanted to make sure that there wold be no more sneak attacks like that and decided to put all Japanese-Americans into internment camps. About 62% of the internees were U.S. citizens. If we were interning our own citizens into camps, there is no way we would allow people from Japan to emigrate into our country. Japan was our target during this world war and their people were definitely not welcome in our country during this time.
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