Immigration Policy in a Time of War: The United States, 1939–1945 1

THE ARGUMENT OF THIS ESSAY is that the World War II years were crucial in setting the direction for American immigration policy for the rest of the twentieth century, even though during the war immigration from outside the hemisphere fell to the lowest levels ever recorded. ² I will discuss these changes topically in four categories: 1) internment, registration, and incarceration; 2) naturalization; 3) refugees; 4) non-immigrants.