Immigrants are forced to register

Aug. 28, 1940: To comply with the Alien Registration Act, Los Angeles begins to register its estimated 125,000 foreign-born residents at its processing headquarters in San Pedro.

“By late afternoon, more than 500 aliens had registered, given the government the required information about themselves and been fingerprinted in compliance with the law,” The Times reported. “They ranged from Mexicans, Japanese and Chinese to Poles, Finns, Germans, English and Canadians. Many of them had lived in the United States for years, some as long as 20 years.”

Against the backdrop of war in Europe, the new law required all foreign-born residents over 14 to state their occupation, political beliefs and personal status, the newspaper said. It also forbade anyone from advocating the overthrow of the government. A fine of $1,000 and six months imprisonment was the penalty for failure to register.