The Emigration Act of 19 17 Built on the Chinese Exclusion Act

In january of 19 17, british cryptographers deciphered a telegram from german foreign minister arthur zimmerman. It promised that germany would return arizona, new mexico and texas to mexico if mexico joined the war on the side of germany. The united states had no federal laws restricting emigration. If you could get here, you could stay. And yet another source of tension in bisby in 19 17 was a general nation wide trend toward xenophobia and nativism.