[2] It was intended to correct what President Woodrow Wilson's administration considered to be deficiencies in previous laws, in order to enable the government to deport undesirable aliens, specifically anarchists, communists, labor organizers, and similar activists.

[3] U.S. authorities in President Woodrow Wilson's administration determined that their best opportunity to detain and remove foreign-born anarchists, antiwar protesters, and members of radical labor unions such as the Industrial Workers of the World, from the United States lay in the authority of the Department of Immigration to deport individuals under an extremely broad definition of anarchism.

[3] The new legislation removed the protection in prior law that aliens (persons without citizenship) who had resided in the United States for more than 5 years were not subject to deportation.

While waiting for Senate action, representatives of the two sponsoring government agencies held meetings to develop a strategy for handling the "disposition of cases of alien anarchists, some of whom are Italian anarchists and others Industrial Workers of the World and Russian Union workers, now pending.

[4] The Times published an editorial that contrasted those low numbers with the degree of public disturbance across the country by activists: "It appears to be difficult to find alien anarchists.

Acting Secretary of Labor Louis Freeland Post was threatened with impeachment for his department's findings in favor of continued residence in the US of persons charged in deportation cases.