Immigration to the United States between 1941 and 1980 underwent enormous changes. After the years 1917, 1921, and 1924, the open door that immigrants saw as a beacon of light to their newfound freedom was closed for many; the government and the people did not see the "new" immigrants as an enrichment or culture for the United States and therefore the country was affected by xenophobia and racial persecution, whether in the form of exploitation, hostility and/or deportation. One might have assumed that the United States took a conservative approach during this period by excluding immigrants who were not considered "useful" to them, but immigrants also faced numerous opportunities to escape communism, oppression, or war. where they would find refuge in the United States, whether the intentions were liberal or not, the policies were. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay There were a number of different policies regarding immigration. There were eight presidents of the United States between 1941 and 1980, these presidents were a mix of Republicans and Democrats and introduced many different laws, the application of which is due to economic, social and political positioning. The Displaced Persons Act of 1948 was considered very liberal as overall it provided for the admission of 410,000 immigrants from Central and Eastern Europe. As well as the Refugee Relief Act of 1953, as it allowed the entry of 214,000 people, however it is argued that this was actually a conservative policy as most refugees fled from behind the Iron Curtain, which would benefit the 'America as a people might see it as people fleeing communism to America where they are very capitalist, which implies that they save people from communism because it's a bad thing. Another conservative act was the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 (Hart-Celler Act), which sought to implement a new system in America, a system that prioritized skills over nationality, in 1968 the average number of annual immigrant arrivals rose to 400,000, reduced the flow of immigrants from Canada and Mexico and favored those from the Philippines and South Korea, since Asian immigrants largely consisted of highly qualified and professional people. Although many laws allowed immigrants to enter the United States, the liberal policies that were adopted were driven by the conservative thoughts behind them. The Bracero Program was implemented in 1942 and provided migrant labor for farms in California, Texas, and elsewhere. Each year approximately 50,000 Mexicans entered the United States to become permanent citizens. Agricultural employers often failed to honor the terms of their contracts, underpaying bracero workers and housing them in poor conditions, even legal Mexican-American citizens were subject to discrimination, segregation, and hostility. After a year the bracero program was closed and the Hart-Celler Western Hemisphere immigration cap was exceeded. The end of the bracero program was supposed to be a liberal reform to end the exploitation of Mexican workers in the system. However, due to the Hart-Celler Act, the entire hemisphere was awarded less than half the visas awarded to Mexicans alone in some previous years. The bracero program has a liberal front but behind closed doors there was a much more conservative system. The treatment of immigrants, especially those from Japan, China, etc., cannot be seen as liberal either.