During the Great Depression, immigration was a large problem, there were already laws that barred certain ethnic groups from entering the United States. Many refugees fleeing from the Nazi persecution were denied entrance to the U.S. Due to the Immigration Act of 1924 Asians were excluded from immigrating to America, so naturally, the United States turned to Mexico for a cheap labor force during the 1920's. Mexico provided thousands of legal and undocumented workers to labor on farms and ranches in the Midwest and Southwest. During the time of the Great Depression, there were several hundred thousand people of Mexican ancestry living in the United States. And due to the cheap labor that the Mexican population supplied, anti-Mexican sentiment rose from the huge job losses. Over time, the government decided to repatriate about one-half million Mexicans between 1929 and 1935. Some of the people sent back to Mexico were actually U.S. citizens with long established residences and others who were tricked or forced to go. Mexican labor was soon welcomed back during World War II.
sources:
http://immigrationinamerica.org/527-great-depression.html
http://www.loc.gov/teachers/classroommaterials/lessons/migrate/
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