why were immagrants processed through ellis island around 1860-1930?

Answer 1

exactly as mentioned above.......the island was a sort of "purgatory" in the sense that it enabled we Americans to cleanse or purge the immigrants of any unsafe diseases they may have had.....it was also a way to handle them all together, being there many MANY that came, and it would have been quite chaotic to have just let them get off their boat and do what they wanted.

Answer 2

http://www.jackdaw.com/pc-405-57-immigration-1870-1930.aspx

Answer 3

The federal immigration station opened on January 1, 1892 and was closed in November 1954, but not before processing more than 12 million immigrants. For more than 40 years prior to this over 8 million immigrants were processed locally by New York State officials at Castle Garden Immigration Depot in Manhattan. At Ellis Island, only about 2 percent were denied admission to the U.S. and sent back to their countries of origin for reasons such as chronic contagious disease, criminal background, or insanity [1]. Immigrants were examined by doctors and questioned by government officials. Many who were allowed entry settled in New York and northern New Jersey for at least their first few years in America. During this time period, Angel Island ( between Alcatraz and the Pacific Ocean in San Francisco Bay) served a similar purpose on the West Coast, processing mostly Chinese immigrants.

Ellis Island was the first stop for most immigrants from Europe. There, they were processed before they could enter the United States. First, they had to pass a physical examination. Those with serious health problems or diseases were sent home or were held in the island's hospital facilities for long periods of time. Next, they were asked a series of questions, including name, occupation, work experience, and the amount of money they carried with them. Generally, those immigrants who were approved spent from hours up to a day at Ellis Island. However, more than three thousand would-be immigrants died on Ellis Island while being held in the hospital facilities. Some unskilled workers and immigrants were rejected outright because they were considered "likely to become a public charge."

Writer Louis Adamic came to America from Slovenia, in southeastern Europe, in 1913. Adamic described the night he spent on Ellis Island. He and many other immigrants slept on bunk beds in a huge hall. Lacking a warm blanket, the young man "shivered, sleepless, all night, listening to snores" and dreams "in perhaps a dozen different languages."

Aside from Adamic, other Ellis Island immigrants that achieved some measure of status in their newly adopted country included Isaac Asimov, Charles Atlas, Irving Berlin, Ettore Boiardi ("Chef Boyardee"), Irene Bordoni, Nigel Bruce, Frank Capra, Cipriano Castro, Samuel Chotzinoff, Claudette Colbert, George Christopher, Edward Corsi, Ricardo Cortez, Frank Costello, Xavier Cugat, Vernon Duke, Max Factor, Father Edward Flanagan, Felix Frankfurter, Marcus Garvey, Kahlil Gibran, Arshile Gorky, Bob Hope, Sol Hurok, Tor Johnson, Al Jolson, Col. Hubert Julian, John Kluge, J. Krishnamurti, Meyer Lansky, John Londos (The Golden Greek), Lucky Luciano, Bela Lugosi, Owney Madden, Mike Mazurki, Antonio Moreno, Alan Mowbray, Pola Negri, Joe Penner, Pearl Primus, James Reston, Hyman G. Rickover, Edward G. Robinson, Knute Rockne, Andrew Kapochunas, Eggnog Charlie, Ole Rolvaag, Ben Shahn, Igor Sikorsky, Spyros Skouras, Arthur Tracy, Pauline Trigere, Anzia Yezierska, and Henny Youngman.

After 1924, Ellis Island was only used for detainees and refugees. Ordinary immigrants were processed through other facilities.

As with all historic areas administered by the National Park Service, Ellis Island, along with Statue of Liberty, was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.

Today, Ellis Island houses a museum, reachable by ferry from Liberty State Park in Jersey City, New Jersey and from the southern tip of Manhattan in New York City. The Statue of Liberty, sometimes thought to be on Ellis Island because of its symbolism as a welcome to immigrants, is actually on nearby Liberty Island, which is about a 1/2 mile South.

Ellis island was also known as "The Isle of Tears" or "Heartbreak island."[2] About 2% of the millions of immigrants were sent back to their countries and did not become U.S. citizens after a long travel to Ellis island

Answer 4

For an orderly, efficent and leagal execution of immigration law.

Answer 5

Cause they were really dirty and had diseases.