join them, those immigrating commenced with no future plans of returning to their homes. The rapid increase of immigrants entering under these circumstances led Americans to question the lenient policies of immigration that were implemented by the United States government and created controversial issues encompassing all involved.In addition to reasons for leaving their native countries, immigrants also shared the experience of the long and exhausting trek to America. Although some arrived via railway or, in few cases, airway, most were tightly packed onto steamships, enduring extremely unsanitary conditions. Passengers funded the trip with money they had saved or had boarding passes sent by friends or relatives already in America, as was generally the case. Despite the surge of excitement in arriving to their destination, immigrants were exhausted, hungry, and scared when they first encounter with their new home.Ellis Island, located in New York’s harbor, was the arrival point for the majority of immigrants coming during the early 1900s. This building was designed in order to organize the process through which immigrants were granted entry. The officials working in this building enforced “laws and orders passed from 1885-1907 which barred people with contagious diseased, paupers and persons likely to become public charges, and also antichrists, prostitutes, the mentally deficient, and the disabled.” (American Identity Explorer CD-ROM) The tests that measured these ailments included medical, eye, and physical exams as well as two-minute interviews in which the immigrant had to prove that he or she had money, a place to live, and if not employment, then the means to obtain it. It was a long and grueling process to endure for the immigrant that had just arrived from a several day steamship cruise. Ridden by exhaustion, hunger, confusion, and anticipation, the immigrant was faced with hours of interrogations an...
