<P> In 1945, the War Brides Act allowed foreign - born wives of U.S. citizens who had served in the U.S. Armed Forces to immigrate to the United States . In 1946, The War Brides Act was extended to include the fiancés of American soldiers . In 1946, the Luce - Celler Act extended the right to become naturalized citizens to from the newly independent nation of The Philippines and to Asian Indians . The immigration quota was set at 100 people per year . </P> <P> At the end of World War II, "regular" immigration almost immediately increased under the official national origins quota system as refugees from war torn Europe began immigrating to the U.S. After the war, there were jobs for nearly everyone who wanted one, when most women employed during the war went back into the home . From 1941 to 1950, 1,035,000 people immigrated to the U.S., including 226,000 from Germany, 139,000 from the UK, 171,000 from Canada, 60,000 from Mexico and 57,000 from Italy . </P> <P> The Displaced Persons Act of 1948 finally allowed the displaced people of World War II to start immigrating . Some 200,000 Europeans and 17,000 orphans displaced by World War II were initially allowed to immigrate to the United States outside of immigration quotas . President Harry S. Truman signed the first Displaced Persons (DP) act on June 25, 1948, allowing entry for 200,000 DPs, then followed with the more accommodating second DP act on June 16, 1950, allowing entry for another 200,000 . This quota, including acceptance of 55,000 Volksdeutschen, required sponsorship for all immigrants . The American program was the most notoriously bureaucratic of all the DP programs and much of the humanitarian effort was undertaken by charitable organizations, such as the Lutheran World Federation as well as other ethnic groups . Along with an additional quota of 200,000 granted in 1953 and more in succeeding years, a total of nearly 600,000 refugees were allowed into the country outside the quota system, second only to Israel's 650,000 . </P> <P> In 1950, after the start of the Korean War, the Internal Security Act barred admission of Communists, who might engage in activities "which would be prejudicial to the public interest, or would endanger the welfare or safety of the United States ." </P>

The largest sources of immigration to the west were