The first Filipinos to move to the United States were mostly limited to pensionados, well-educated young men from privileged families looking to send their sons to university in the U.S. Later, large numbers of Filipinos immigrated to Hawaii to meet labor demand on sugar plantations. Around 64,000 Filipinos immigrated to Hawaii by 1930. Due to the legal loophole exempting Filipinos from the Exclusion Act and legal segregation, vigilante violence was heavily employed by whites from all classes. Beginning the night of November 8, a mob gathered at a local boarding house owned by an interracial couple, demanding all Filipino boarders leave town. Mobs of white men swarmed into the town of Toppenish, attacking and harassing Filipino workers for two days straight. On the first night, men rushed into homes of Filipinos, injuring residents and destroying houses and furniture. Filipinos were gathered and forced to leave on trains under threat of death. Those who chose to stay were told they would be hanged if found after dark, and were placed in jail under protective custody by police. Filipinos in the Valley were subject to arson and dynamite bombings perpetrated by white vigilante groups who accused Filipinos of "stealing" white women from white men and for cooperating with "barbaric black natives". The
Ku Klux Klan in the Valley was led by Tyler A. Rogers, the local Kleagle. The Klan claimed to uphold the law and denied their night-riding approach at justice. They attracted significant support from the Valley's white population due to their outspoken opinions against interracial dating or relationships. Not only were the Filipino laborers harassed and tormented by the KKK, but their employers were threatened and beaten too. ==Results and outcome==