![]() “Most had no problem with the medical examination,” says Moreno, “even though they were frightened.” Many of the immigrants had never been to a doctor before. The lines would snake through the Great Hall as the new arrivals proceeded through an assembly line of cursory medical examinations conducted by uniformed doctors. Passengers free of obvious diseases and whose answers matched the information on the ship manifest would be allowed to disembark when the ship docked at one of the city’s piers.Īll third-class and steerage passengers, on the other hand, were put on a ferry to Ellis Island, where women and children were separated in one line and men in the other. Ships steaming into New York Harbor would be met by a small boat from Ellis Island carrying immigration inspectors, who would board to quickly examine the first and second-class passengers, many of whom were not immigrants. and have to pay for the rejected immigrant’s return voyage. The steamship companies were encouraged to thoroughly screen passengers to ensure health, good character, and financial solvency: If they didn’t, they’d be fined $100 for every person who was refused entry into the U.S. ![]() The immigrants who eventually passed through Ellis Island started their journey by buying passage on a steamship, usually sailing from Europe. At the same time, however, neither visas, passports, nor any other documentation were required, and there weren’t limits on how many people could enter the country. government made it clear that they would not welcome anarchists, polygamists, criminals, or anyone who was sick, had loose morals, or couldn’t support themselves. ![]() It selected Ellis Island, a three-acre spot of land in the harbor between New York and New Jersey, but before it could open the island had to be doubled in size with landfill.Įven so, during the early decades of federal control there were few restrictions on who could enter the country (except for Chinese immigrants, who were effectively banned by the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882). New York state ran an immigration facility called Castle Gardens at the tip of Manhattan, but the new federal Office of Immigration wanted an intake and inspection station in a more controlled location. Some 75 percent of the country’s steamship traffic came through New York Harbor-and so did 75 percent of the nation’s immigrants, according to Cannato. “Never before had the country ever received such numbers.” In light of the influx, the federal government decided in 1891 that it had to take charge. “From 1880 to 1889 was just massive,” says Barry Moreno, librarian and historian at the Statue of Liberty National Monument and author of the Encyclopedia of Ellis Island. Until the end of the 19th century, individual states handled immigration with rules varying by jurisdiction.
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