Immigration in 1904

In 1904, 812,870 people entered America as immigrants (1). Economic volatility, food scarcity, political upheaval and persecution, and rapid industrialization compelled millions of people from across Europe to migrate to the United States. Around 70% of these immigrants entered the country through New York City (2). After 1892, this meant disembarking at Ellis Island, New York’s then-state-of-the-art immigration processing and detention facility. Standing between these millions and life in America stood the nascent border enforcement agencies, including bureaucrats and law enforcement officers, alongside psychiatrists and other medical professionals employed by the United States Public Health Service. Understanding the experiences of immigrants offers a valuable counterweight to the range of views on immigration embraced by psychiatrists.