What prompted agribusiness owners int he late 1880s and early 1900s to recruit mexican laborers to come work on farms in the united states? the passage of the southern homestead act, which provided land to freed slaves, creating a need for more laborers. the passage of the illegal immigration reform prevented laborers from the caribbean immigration to the united states, so plantation owners needed a new source of labor. the implementation of immigration policies, such as the chinese

The Chinese Exclusion Act would have created a need for more cheap laborers. Following the Civil War and the end of slavery, labor was much needed, but it needed to be cheap labor. Cheap labor at the time came in the form of immigrants, however most immigrants stayed in the north in urban, factory cities. The Chinese were located in the West and Southwest staying after building the railroads. They were able to find work as migrant farm hands, however the Exclusion Act forced the Chinese out creating need for labor. Mexicans were close and easy to access across the border. They will remain a necessary source of labor until the Great Depression hits and a deportation program will begin to send them back to Mexico.