Ellis Island: United States Immigration

Ellis Island Ellis Island opened as a port of immigration on January 1st of 1892; by 1924 over 14 million immigrants had entered the United States through its doors, Ellis Island is synonymous with United States immigration history for this very reason. Ellis Island was the first part of America immigrants saw, and for some of those immigrants it was also the last place they saw. Ellis Island was opened with the purpose of sifting out the undesirable immigrants that came into the port, as the superintendent of immigration said:
It is not the serious intention of the Government to prohibit immigration, but from time to time to prohibit the people whom experience has demonstrated fail in some important direction in entering beneficially into American citizenship.
The United States feared how the incoming immigrants would affect the United States economy, workforce, and general population, this fear led them to create many immigration acts to protect American citizens from immigrants that would do nothing but cause a strain on the economy. …show more content…
The exclusion of immigrants based on their mental capabilities came into effect when the United States passed the Immigration act of 1882, which primary dealt with the exclusion of mentally ill immigrants. However, in 1907 the United States added imbeciles, feeble-minded persons, and even those whose ability to earn may be affected by their mental state, to the list of those excluded from migrating to the United States. This exclusion based on mental capability was again justified with stating that these immigrants were likely to become public charges and therefore allowing them to gain access to the United States would add unnecessary strain to the