immigration to the U.S.

It insisted that all aliens pay a head tax of $8 dollars. However, because of the high demand for labor in the southwest, months later congress let Mexican workers (braceros) to stay in the U.S. under supervision of state government for six month periods. A series of statutes were made in 1917,1918, and 1920. The sought to define more clearly which aliens were admissible and which aliens were deportable. These decisions were made mostly on the aliens" political beliefs. They formed these statutes in reaction to the Bolshevik Revolution in Russia, which led to a Russian economic recession and a surge of immigrants used to communistic ideals bringing along with them a red scare. The Immigration act of May 26, 1924 consolidated all of the statutes and laws in the past. It also established a quota system designed to favor the Northwestern Europeans because others were deemed less likely to support the American way of life. The act also barred all Asians as aliens ineligible for citizenship in the U.S. The act of June 14, 1940 permanently transferred the Immigration and Naturalization Service from the Department of Labor to the Department of Justice. The Act of April 29, 1943 provided for the importation of temporary agricultural laborers to the U.S. from North, South, and Central America. The Program served as the Legal basis for the Mexican bracero program, which lasted through 1964. The Displaced Persons Act of June 25, 1948 was a respond to the large numbers of Europeans who had been turned into refuges by World War Two. It also marked the first Major expression of U.S. policy for admitting persons fleeing persecution.
             They still had a quota however, of 205,000 displaced persons in a two-year period. (3,1096) The priority went to aliens who were farm laborers and those who had special skills. Racial and Religious factors also affected the implementation of the Act. From June 30 until July 1 half of the German and Austrian quotas were available exclusively to persons of German ethnic origin who were born in Poland, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Romania, or Yugoslavia and who resided in Germany or Austria.