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tazzygirl -> RE: Birthright citizenship. (1/10/2011 9:32:53 PM)
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ORIGINAL: DomKen
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ORIGINAL: Knightwalker
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ORIGINAL: DomKen
Most, 99+%, Ellis Island immigrants were not legal entrants to the country. That's why we set up places like Ellis Island, to process and screen immigrants that did not have an entry visa or equivalent. That would be the equivalent today of opening a big building on the Mexico border and giving out green cards to anyone and everyone who tried to cross the border.
In short you are descended from what would be called illegal immigrants today.
Ummmm no. Ellis Island was an immigration processing station. So when someone was allowed to enter the US through Ellis Island, they were legal immigrants. Those who did not have their documents in order or were deemed unfit were turned away, back to their country of origin.
That would be true if Ellis Island wasn't US territory. It is therefore they were here illegally. The whole point was to regularize their status, unnecessary if they were legal entrants.
designated as the site of one of the first Federal immigration station by President Benjamin Harrison in 1890, Ellis Island had a varied history.
Prior to 1890, the individual states (rather than the Federal government) regulated immigration into the United States. Castle Garden in the Battery (originally known as Castle Clinton) served as the New York State immigration station from 1855 to 1890 and approximately eight million immigrants, mostly from Northern and Western Europe, passed through its doors. Throughout the 1800's and intensifying in the latter half of the 19th century, ensuing political instability, restrictive religious laws and deteriorating economic conditions in Europe began to fuel the largest mass human migration in the history of the world. It soon became apparent that Castle Garden was ill-equipped and unprepared to handle the growing numbers of immigrants arriving yearly.
The Federal government intervened and constructed a new Federally-operated immigration station on Ellis Island. The new structure on Ellis Island, opened on January 1, 1892; Annie Moore, a 15 year-old Irish girl, accompanied by her two brothers, was the very first immigrant to be processed at Ellis Island.
First and second class passengers who arrived in New York Harbor were not required to undergo the inspection process at Ellis Island. Instead, these passengers underwent a cursory inspection aboard ship; the theory being that if a person could afford to purchase a first or second class ticket, they were less likely to become a public charge in America due to medical or legal reasons. However, first and second class passengers were sent to Ellis Island for further inspection if they were sick or had legal problems.
This scenario was far different for "steerage" or third class passengers. These immigrants traveled in crowded and often unsanitary conditions near the bottom of steamships with few amenities, oftenspending up to two weeks seasick in their bunks during rough Atlantic Ocean crossings. Upon arrival in New York City, ships would dock at the Hudson or East River piers. First and second class passengers would disembark, pass through Customs at the piers and were free to enter the United States. The steerage and third class passengers were transported from the pier by ferry or barge to Ellis Island where everyone would undergo a medical and legal inspection.
If the immigrant's papers were in order and they were in reasonably good health, the Ellis Island inspection process would last approximately three to five hours. The inspections took place in the Registry Room (or Great Hall), where doctors would briefly scan every immigrant for obvious physical ailments. Doctors at Ellis Island soon became very adept at conducting these "six second physicals." By 1916, it was said that a doctor could identify numerous medical conditions (ranging from anemia to goiters to varicose veins) just by glancing at an immigrant. The ship's manifest or passenger list (filled out at the port of embarkation) contained the immigrant's name and his/her answers to numerous questions. This document was used by immigration inspectors at Ellis Island to cross examine the immigrant during the legal (or primary) inspection. The two agencies responsible for processing immigrants at Ellis Island were the United States Public Health Service and the Bureau of Immigration (later known as the Immigration and Naturalization Service - INS).
As the United States entered World War I, immigration to the United States decreased. Numerous suspected enemy aliens throughout the United States were brought to Ellis Island undercustody. Between 1918 and 1919, detained suspected enemy aliens were transferred from Ellis Island to other locations in order for the United States Navy with the Army Medical Department to take over the island complex for the duration of the war. During this time, regular inspection of arriving immigrants was conducted on board ship or at the docks. At the end of World War I, a "Red Scare" spread across America and thousands of suspected alien radicals were interned at Ellis Island. Hundreds were later deported based upon the principal of guilt by association with any organizations advocating revolution against the Federal government. In 1920, Ellis Island reopened as an immigration receiving station and 225,206 immigrants were processed that year.
http://www.nps.gov/elis/historyculture/loader.cfm?csModule=security/getfile&PageID=294652
Its an interesting read. And those who came in through Ellis Island were indeed legal.
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