Life in the United States was difficult and violent for Mexican refugees and Mexican Americans in the latter half of the Progressive Era. Reformers in the era believed that non-white people were "primitive" and biologically inferior. The eugenics-influenced “Dillingham Commission” argued for drastic reductions in the number of immigrants to the United States, while academics such as Charles Davenport claimed racial "deficiencies" were the root of violence and poverty. This elite nativism had a direct translation on the ground, as refugees of the Mexican Revolution were regularly denied humanitarian aid. In one incident in 1914, refugees fleeing the violence of the revolution crossed into West Texas; in response, white Texans arrested the refugees and imprisoned them in Ft. Bliss.