Final answer:
Asian immigrants faced significant discrimination and anti-immigration legislation in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries due to labor competition and nativism, leading to restrictive laws and sometimes violent opposition.
Step-by-step explanation:
Asian immigrants in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries faced discrimination and restrictive legislation fueled by the interests of organized labor and nativism. Local labor unions and nativist groups, such as the Asiatic Exclusion League established in 1905, pushed for laws that expanded upon the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 to include other Asian nationalities like Japanese and Koreans.
These immigrants sought to create communities similar to European migrants, but faced significant opposition exemplified by discriminatory acts like the anti-coolie clubs and violent incidents such as the 1929 attack on Filipino laborers in Exeter, California.
The labor competition they presented was perceived as a threat to the wages and job security of White workers, leading to efforts to curtail Asian immigration and naturalization.