Ellis Island | Alien Enemies | 3

In the immediate aftermath of America’s entry into World War I, federal agents began rounding up hundreds of German nationals and detaining them at Ellis Island, designating them as “alien enemies.” After the war, anti-immigrant sentiment intensified as eugenic theories of racial hierarchy gained popularity. By the 1920s, Americans were willing to accept sweeping changes to the nation’s immigration laws, with the introduction of quotas setting numerical limits on new arrivals. As the country closed the door on immigrants, Ellis Island was transformed into a facility for detention and deportation. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

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• 0:00Lindsay Graham?

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• 0:17Lindsay Graham?

  Imagine it's November 9, 1919, in a small hearing room on Ellis Island. You're a Russian immigrant who's lived in New York City for six years, but last night, immigration authorities raided the school you attended in the evenings. You were arrested and hauled here, where an immigration inspector has read out a warrant accusing you of advocating the violent overthrow of the United States government. And now, with a raised eyebrow, he peers at you over his glasses. Are you a member of the Union of Russian Workers? No, and there's not a word of truth to the charges. But you were arrested at the People's House night school, were you not? That school was run by the Union of Russian Workers, a radical organization. But I'm not a radical. I only started going to the People's House last September to

• 1:02Lindsay Graham?

  attend math classes. The inspector considers this, crossing his arms and leaning back. Are you a member of the Communist Party? No, the only organization I belong to is the Methodist Episcopal Church. Do you believe in organized government? Yes. Do you believe the government of the United States is a good government? Of course. Why do you think I moved here from Russia? Have you ever read anarchist literature? No. Now, you must believe me, I am not an anarchist. Anyone who knows me could tell you that. I barely know what an anarchist is. The inspector picks up a small, pocket-sized book off the table and thumbs through the pages. This is a membership book for the Union of Russian Workers. Do you recognize it?

• 1:45Lindsay Graham?

  Your pulse starts to quicken as you begin to realize where he's going with this. Yes, it was given to me when I joined the school. It says here that "The struggle between the classes will only end when the laboring classes take possession of all the wealth in the world through the violence of social revolution." Do you believe in the principles set forth in this book? No. You arrested me because of a book? The inspector rises from his chair. You will be held here on Ellis Island on a $10,000 bond until further notice.

• 2:18Lindsay Graham?

  With that, the inspector walks toward the door, leaving you alone. It feels like only yesterday that you arrived at Ellis Island in search of freedom and a better life. And for six years, you've worked hard and followed the law until that better life seemed within reach. But now you wonder if everything you've worked for is about to be taken away, whether the authorities in this country are just as bad as those you fled from in Russia.

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• 4:36Lindsay Graham?

  From Audible Originals, I'm Lindsay Graham, and this is American History Tellers: Our History, Your Story.

• 4:58Lindsay Graham?

  For the first 25 years of its existence, Ellis Island served as the main port of entry for immigrants to the United States. But as Europe was thrown into turmoil, first by the outbreak of World War I, and then by the Communist Revolution in Russia, that began to change. With anti-immigrant hysteria sweeping the country, authorities transformed Ellis Island from a gateway into a detention center, holding German immigrants and suspected political radicals behind its doors. Many of those unlucky enough to get caught up in the mass arrests soon found themselves deported back to their homelands. That included Russian immigrant Joseph Palulek, who was arrested while attending a math class at a night school

• 5:38Lindsay Graham?

  run by the Union of Russian Workers. He was shipped back to Russia along with 249 other suspected communists and anarchists. And even after World War I ended, anti-immigrant sentiment ran high. In the 1920s, lawmakers would introduce sweeping new legislation to severely restrict immigration, stripping Ellis Island of its original purpose and marking the end of an era that had changed America forever. This is episode three, Enemy Aliens.

• 6:11Lindsay Graham?

  In 1913, immigrant groups criticized the newly inaugurated President Woodrow Wilson for his failure to replace Ellis Island Commissioner William Williams, who had become notorious for his rigid interpretations of federal immigration law. In May, one German-language newspaper attacked Wilson for having not moved a finger to end the brutal government at Ellis Island. Another article declared that retaining Williams as commissioner would brand President Wilson as an enemy of immigration. And the foreign language press continued to shed light on immigrants barred from entry for their alleged "poor physique" due to a clause in the 1907 Immigration Act excluding those determined to be physically defective. After a four-foot-eight bookkeeper was deported despite having funds and a job connection,

• 6:56Lindsay Graham?

  the German-language Deutsches Journal complained, "In America, men are measured by their bone structure." Another case involved a six-year-old girl who had suffered from chronic lymph node inflammation, who was temporarily detained while officials reviewed her case. After the girl died in detention, her father wrote to Williams declaring, "Sir, you are the murderer of my child." But by June 1913, Williams had had enough. He resigned from his post and returned to his private law practice after more than six years at Ellis Island under three different presidents. To replace him, Wilson appointed the progressive reformer Frederick C. Howe. Howe was optimistic about his new role, describing it as "an opportunity to ameliorate the lot of several thousand human beings."

• 7:42Lindsay Graham?

  But despite this optimism, after arriving at Ellis Island, Howe was troubled by the conditions he witnessed. At night, immigrants were housed in crowded dormitories, sleeping on three-tier bunk beds. But during the day, there was little for them to do but sit on hard benches for hours at a time. Howe recalled, "I was struck by the dreadful idleness of these poor people." So he focused on improving their daily lives, handing out magazines, toys, and sewing materials. He also introduced outdoor seating, playgrounds, educational programs, and concerts, and he spruced up the great hall with potted plants and paintings depicting iconic events from American history. And Howe's emphasis on living conditions became more urgent

• 8:24Lindsay Graham?

  with the outbreak of war in Europe. After World War I erupted in the summer of 1914, immigration to the United States slowed to a trickle. In 1915, with few ships making transatlantic voyages, fewer than 200,000 immigrants passed through Ellis Island compared to nearly 900,000 the year before. But the war also meant that those denied entry to the US could not be deported back to Europe. Instead, they were left stranded at Ellis Island, trapped in a state of legal limbo. One of the unfortunate stranded by the war was 19-year-old Italian immigrant Gemma Zatello. In February 1916, Gemma, her mother, and her four siblings arrived at Ellis Island

• 9:05Lindsay Graham?

  hoping to travel to Ohio to reunite with Gemma's father, Salvatore. But inspectors labeled Gemma an "imbecile" and denied her entry based on the clause in the law excluding those deemed to be feeble-minded. This law was enforced by peppering immigrants with questions, asking them to count backwards from 20, to name the months in a year, or to identify the capital of their home country. After learning that his daughter Gemma had been excluded after failing the medical inspector's assessment, Salvatore Zatello traveled to New York to plead her case. But Commissioner Howe refused to back down, insisting that Gemma's mental incapacity was obvious even to a layman. After months of detention and the death of the Zatello's youngest child from meningitis, officials

• 9:48Lindsay Graham?

  finally allowed the rest of the family to enter the United States, leaving Gemma behind. But with the war raging, officials had suspended deportations to Mediterranean ports, so Gemma was stranded at Ellis Island. She was eventually transferred to a smaller immigration center in New Jersey, where she wrote to her father often, complaining that she did not have proper clothing or shoes. Salvatore continued fighting for her release, even writing letters to President Wilson emphasizing his patriotism, but he failed to make headway. Wilson was preoccupied with the escalating war, which soon spread to American shores. In the early hours of July 30, 1916, a munitions depot exploded on Black Tom Island, a jut

• 10:32Lindsay Graham?

  of land in New York Harbor, just a few hundred yards away from Ellis Island. The force of the explosion threw the doors of Ellis Island off their hinges and catapulted one of the dockers 15 feet against a wall. Two million pounds of munitions were destroyed, thousands of windows shattered in Manhattan and Jersey City, and shrapnel even nicked the Statue of Liberty. Shortly thereafter, authorities pinned the explosion on two German men who were trying to prevent the United States from shipping supplies to England. This attack helped shift public opinion against Germany, and the United States inch closer to the precipice of war. Because though Wilson had long insisted on America's neutrality, this attack and the threat of German submarines convinced him that the US could no longer sit on the sidelines.

• 11:17Lindsay Graham?

  On April 2, 1917, he stood before Congress and asked for a formal declaration of war. Soon, two million American soldiers would ship out to the battlefields of France. But Wilson was also focused on threats at home. Four days after the declaration of war, he announced new rules for so-called "alien enemies." And from then on, German-born men who had not been naturalized would now be treated as potential security threats, subject to arrest and detention without trial. Imagine it's 3:00 in the morning in April 1917 on Ellis Island, where you've worked as the Commissioner of Immigration for the past four years. A night watchman has just awoken you from your sleep because of a commotion outside.

• 12:02Lindsay Graham?

  You open the doors of the main immigration building and step outside to find ferries and barges crowding the docks, packed shoulder to shoulder with hundreds of men. A man wearing a dark overcoat approaches you, carrying a lantern that illuminates his grim expression. Name's Edwards. I'm with the Justice Department. Are you the Commissioner? Yes, and what in God's name is going on here? President's orders to round up all German enemy aliens. Excuse me? The United States is at war, Commissioner. Yes, I'm aware of that, but who are these people? Most of them are sailors. We sequestered all German ships in New York Harbor. And you're dumping them here? No one informed me about this. I guess it wasn't time. There must be hundreds of them. We can't possibly house them all. The agent shrugs, adjusting his gloves.

• 12:47Lindsay Graham?

  Well, you'll make room. I'll make room. There's, this is not some roadside inn. How long will they be detained? Indefinitely. No, no, no, absolutely not. These, these buildings are not suited for permanent residence. The floors are bare cement. The corridors are freezing cold. You trail off at the sight of the other guards beginning to herd the detainees ashore. Some are old men with stooped postures, others look no older than teenagers. Look, if we're really going to do this, you, you need to give me a head count. I believe there's roughly a thousand. A thousand? We don't have beds for that many. So what? They'll sleep on the floor. They're enemy aliens. Suspected enemy aliens. Same difference. Not to me. What evidence do you have against these people? They're Germans.

• 13:32Lindsay Graham?

  What more do you need? The agent walks away to join the other armed guards ushering the detainees off their boats, watch them trudge past you on the docks and realize that this place, designed as a refuge, has now become a holding cell. In April 1917, federal agents began rounding up German alien enemies and detaining them at Ellis Island. They targeted German nationals working in shipping hubs like Hoboken, New Jersey, including the crews of the same steamships that had carried immigrants to the United States before the war. So what was once an immigrant inspection center was suddenly transformed into a military

• 14:13Lindsay Graham?

  detention facility, a change that Commissioner Frederick Howe struggled to accept. He later recalled, "I became a jailer instead of a Commissioner of Immigration. A jailer not of convicted offenders but of suspected persons who had been arrested and railroaded to Ellis Island as the most available dumping ground." Howe noted that the German detainees accepted the situation with little protest, but he was shocked by the lack of due process they were afforded, calling it "abhorrent to my ideas of legal ethics and my sense of responsibility to my oath of office." By June 1917, most of these detainees were moved to a camp in Georgia, but Ellis Island continued functioning as a military facility. The Army took over the hospital to care for wounded troops, while the Navy quartered soldiers

• 14:57Lindsay Graham?

  in the dormitory building. Meanwhile, wartime fears of disloyalty generated new momentum for restrictions on immigration, leading Congress to introduce the Immigration Act of 1917. This new bill included a literacy test, requiring immigrants over the age of 16 to read roughly 40 words from the Bible in their native language. But Wilson became the third president to veto an immigration bill based on the inclusion of a literacy test, declaring it an unfair barrier. In so doing, he fulfilled a promise he made to immigrant voters during the 1912 campaign, but this time, Congress managed to override the veto, and the bill became law. This 1917 Immigration Act was just one of a series of repressive wartime measures.

• 15:42Lindsay Graham?

  Along with policing the nation's borders, the government moved to crack down on political dissent. In 1917 and 1918, Wilson signed draconian espionage and sedition acts into law, which made it a federal crime to criticize the government, the American flag, or the US military. And this climate of suspicion only intensified in the wake of the 1917 Bolshevik Revolution in Russia. At the same time, amidst growing anti-German sentiment, German-language instruction disappeared from schools, and many German-language newspapers folded. Then, in the final days of the war, Congress passed yet another immigration law, the 1918 Immigration Act, empowering the federal government to deport non-citizens for holding

• 16:25Lindsay Graham?

  membership in radical political organizations. In November 1918, the battlefields of Europe fell silent as World War I at last came to an end. But the war's impact on immigration would be felt for years to come. Americans would soon discover that the anti-immigrant hysteria the war had unleashed would not be easily contained.

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• 18:03Speaker 00

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• 18:26Lindsay Graham?

  On February 6, 1919, 65,000 workers walked off their jobs in Seattle, Washington, launching a general strike that shut down the city for five days. Fears that Seattle was in the throes of a Soviet-style revolution led authorities to arrest 47 foreign-born members of the International Workers of the World, a radical labor union also known as the IWW. They were herded onto a train bound for New York, which newspapers dubbed "The Red Special." After a much-publicized cross-country journey, these foreign-born workers arrived at Ellis Island, where they would await deportation under the 1918 Immigration Act, which empowered authorities to exclude any immigrant belonging to an organization that advocated the overthrow of the US government.

• 19:10Lindsay Graham?

  But Ellis Island Commissioner Frederick Howe delayed the deportations long enough for the IWW lawyers to launch appeals. He later explained his mindset, writing, "I refuse to believe that civil liberties should be thrown to the winds." In the end, the Labor Department ruled that IWW membership alone was not grounds for deportation. Instead, officials had to prove that an individual's actions justified removal. Under these grounds, most of the detainees were released, and one was even discovered to be a US citizen. But the Seattle general strike was only the beginning of a year of widespread labor unrest. Amid soaring inflation and the rollback of wartime worker protections, one-fifth of the US workforce went on strike.

• 19:53Lindsay Graham?

  To many, the sight of millions of steelworkers, meatpackers, and shipyard workers on the picket lines suggested a society coming apart, and that spring, a series of coordinated violent attacks only exacerbated those fears. On May 1, 1919, postal officials intercepted 36 mail bombs sent by anarchists to prominent government officials and businessmen. A month later, bombs exploded in eight cities, including in front of the Washington, DC home of Attorney General A. Mitchell Palmer. The US government responded to the bombings by targeting alleged communists, labor radicals, and foreigners. Congress appropriated emergency funding for Palmer's Justice Department to investigate

• 20:34Lindsay Graham?

  so-called "alien troublemakers" with a new division led by J. Edgar Hoover, the General Intelligence Division, which was the precursor to the FBI. In this climate of fear and suspicion, Frederick Howe faced criticism from a surprising source. Former Ellis Island translator Fiorella LaGuardia, long known for his sympathetic views toward immigrants, had succumbed to the hysteria of this Red Scare. Now a congressman representing New York, he stood on the floor of the US House in June 1919 and declared that Commissioner Howe was very rarely at Ellis Island unless he goes there for the purpose of defending a detained anarchist. LaGuardia also charged Howe with helping detainees access radical literature,

• 21:17Lindsay Graham?

  and he proposed that Congress cut Howe's salary by 50%. Under mounting pressure, Howe resigned in September 1919. Two months later, a congressional investigation into Ellis Island revealed that of the nearly 700 deportation warrants issued against suspected radicals, only 60 had resulted in deportation. One newspaper called Ellis Island "a government institution turned into a socialist hall, a spouting ground for Red Revolutionists." Another complained that Ellis Island was in danger of becoming "a perpetual joke." Meanwhile, Attorney General Mitchell Palmer continued rounding up foreign-born radicals, including the infamous Russian-born anarchist Emma Goldman, known for her failed attempt to assassinate the business titan Henry Clay Frick

• 22:01Lindsay Graham?

  and for her outspoken advocacy of birth control. In the winter of 1919, Goldman was detained at Ellis Island with nearly 250 other suspected alien radicals. Goldman called the conditions there "nothing short of frightful" and said that little had changed in the treatment of immigrants since she had arrived at Castle Garden more than 30 years earlier. But now she was departing from Ellis Island, and in the frigid early hours of December 21, 1919, Goldman and her fellow detainees were deported to the Soviet Union on an army transport ship which the press nicknamed "The Soviet Ark." As they sailed past the Statue of Liberty, they crossed paths with a ferry carrying new immigrants to Ellis Island, who cheered the sight of the other vessel

• 22:44Lindsay Graham?

  not realizing the passengers were being returned to Russia. This mass deportation marked the climax of this Red Scare. Only a few months later, when Palmer's prediction of a massive violent uprising in May 1920 failed to materialize, the hysteria abruptly subsided. Even so, the public's perception of foreigners as agents of radicalism and political violence lingered, even as immigration saw a post-war resurgence. During World War I, immigration numbers had dwindled, but they quickly bounced back, with nearly 800,000 immigrants arriving at Ellis Island in 1920 and 1921. Despite restrictionists' hopes that the literacy test introduced in 1917 would stem the tide,

• 23:27Lindsay Graham?

  fewer than 1,500 people were excluded because of literacy, primarily because the law permitted immigrants to take the test in any language. So immigration officials and steamship companies warned Americans to expect the arrival of millions more Europeans displaced by the war and the Soviet Revolution. In the meantime, America was in the midst of a post-war recession that left 2 million Americans unemployed, and anti-immigration activists told workers that the populations of Poland and Ukraine were coming for their jobs. This was a frightening message for many Americans, who had come to associate Europe and Europeans with instability and conflict, and they became desperate to insulate themselves from any upheaval foreign workers might bring. As one senator told his colleagues, "You have it in your power to protect us

• 24:12Lindsay Graham?

  against criminal agitators and Red anarchists, to build a wall against Bolshevism." But fears of Eastern European immigrants were also fueled by the growing popularity of eugenics, a pseudo-scientific theory that some races and ethnicities were superior to others. Restrictionists like Prescott Hall declared that limiting immigration would prevent inferior groups from diluting and supplanting America's so-called "good stocks." And by 1921, even mainstream news outlets like the popular Saturday Evening Post had become a leading voice for restriction, warning readers that stopping immigration was a matter of life and death for America. And increasingly, Americans doubted whether Ellis Island was equipped to defend the nation from the immigrants they saw as a threat.

• 24:57Lindsay Graham?

  One editorial in the New York Times declared, "Our equipment for handling the alien flood meanwhile has pitifully broken down. Ellis Island is a chaos." Into this charged climate came a new president. In May 1921, the newly inaugurated Warren G. Harding signed the Emergency Quotas Act into law. This capped the number of immigrants admitted from any country to 3% of the number of US residents from that country counted in the 1910 census. This meant that Northern Europeans, who made up a larger portion of the US population, were far more likely to be admitted than those from Southern or Eastern Europe or other regions. So while nearly 300,000 Italians had arrived in America in 1914,

• 25:40Lindsay Graham?

  now only roughly 40,000 would be allowed entry each year. And under this new system, each country's annual quota was divided into monthly allotments. The result was that at midnight on the first day of every month, steamships carrying thousands of hopeful immigrants raced toward New York Harbor, competing to dock as soon as possible before that month's quota was exhausted. Those who arrived even minutes too late risked being sent back home.

• 26:10Lindsay Graham?

  Imagine it's July 1923 on Ellis Island, and you're facing an immigration inspector in the crowded Great Hall. You've just arrived after visiting relatives in Poland, and you're eager to get back to your family in Pennsylvania, especially after giving birth to a baby girl onboard the ship only a few days ago. She fusses in your arms as you try to focus on the inspector's questions.

• 26:32Speaker 00

  All right, ma'am, you traveled onboard the SS Lapland?

• 26:35Lindsay Graham?

  That's right, sir.

• 26:36Speaker 00

  The inspector looks down at the ledger on his desk and frowns.

• 26:39Lindsay Graham?

  The Lapland arrived late, but there were heavy storms. It was a difficult crossing. Is something the matter? Well, I'm sorry to tell you this, but it appears that while you have the right to enter the United States, your baby does not. I don't understand. How's that possible? I'm afraid the Polish quota has been exhausted. You feel a nod twisting in the pit of your stomach, but you're distracted by your daughter's cries. You shift her to your other arm, bounce her lightly, trying to settle her. So, I'm sorry, what does that mean? It means your daughter missed the cutoff. I cannot legally admit any more Poles for entry. But, but, no, that can't be. Perhaps there's something I can do. The Lapland is a British ship. I wonder if the baby can be admitted under the British quota.

• 27:22Speaker 00

  The inspector traces his finger over a file on his desk

• 27:26Lindsay Graham?

  and then shakes his head. No, no, the British quota was exhausted yesterday. That won't work. Where did you embark? In Antwerp, sir? Oh, that's too bad. The Belgian quota ran out a week ago.

• 27:38Speaker 00

  Sir, what am I supposed to do? You, you, you can't really mean to send my baby back to Poland. My husband is waiting for us in Pennsylvania.

• 27:47Lindsay Graham?

  The inspector cranes his head toward the baby in your arms, and his eyes soften.

• 27:51Speaker 00

  I'll speak with the commissioner. Maybe we can straighten this out.

• 27:58Lindsay Graham?

  You blink and nod, silently willing him to find some way to help you. You never imagined what returning to Poland while pregnant could cost you, or that your family could be torn apart by such an arbitrary rule.

• 28:14Lindsay Graham?

  In July 1923, one unlucky Polish mother's newborn baby was initially barred from entering the United States. The baby was finally admitted after officials decided that she would have been born a US citizen if the ship had arrived in New York on schedule. But many more were turned away. An Ellis Island doctor described the reaction of a shipload of 500 immigrants forced to return to Europe under the quota system, recalling, "They screamed and bawled and beat about like wild animals. It was a pitiful spectacle, but the officials were helpless to aid." But despite the sharp reduction in immigrants caused by quotas, politicians began clamoring for an even more severe law. Congress appointed a prominent eugenicist to research immigration,

• 28:57Lindsay Graham?

  who produced a report alleging that higher levels of crime, insanity, and disease could be found among immigrants from Southern and Eastern Europe. This report became a crucial weapon for restrictionists like one Indiana congressman who argued, "There is little or no similarity between the clear-thinking, self-governing stocks that sired the American people and this stream of irresponsible and broken wreckage that is pouring into the lifeblood of America." So three years after the initial quota law, Congress dammed the remaining stream of people by passing the 1924 Immigration Act. This instituted a 2% quota for each foreign-born nationality based on the 1890 census. By using an even older census, lawmakers ensured that nearly 85% of allotments

• 29:41Lindsay Graham?

  would go to Northern Europeans, and this meant that while 50,000 Germans would be allowed entry each year, fewer than 4,000 spots would go to Italians. This law also barred anyone from entering the United States if they were ineligible for US citizenship. And because existing naturalization laws prevented immigrants of Asian ancestry from becoming citizens, the law effectively closed the door on all Asian immigrants. But there was one significant exception in this reformed system. Anyone coming from the Western Hemisphere was exempt from the quotas. So during the 1920s, roughly 60% of immigrants would come from Canada, while 30% would come from Mexico. From there on out, the Mexican and Canadian borders

• 30:24Lindsay Graham?

  became the primary gateways to the United States. The 1924 Immigration Act was a watershed moment, marking the end of more than a century of open immigration that brought 35 million people to American shores. In its wake, immigration processing shifted from Ellis Island and other ports of entry to American embassies and consulates abroad. By 1925, immigrants had to complete paperwork and medical examinations before leaving their home countries, and successful applicants received visas from US consular offices who were responsible for enforcing quotas. This left Ellis Island, as the Secretary of Labor in 1924 said, "looking like a deserted village." And by 1927, a major magazine asked, "Is it time to scrap Ellis Island?"

• 31:09Lindsay Graham?

  No longer would a small group of inspectors in Ellis Island be tasked with guarding the nation's gates. But while Ellis Island's central role in US immigration policy was over, its final fate was still to be decided.

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• 33:33Lindsay Graham?

  In the 1930s, immigration to the United States fell to its lowest level in a century, the result of the quota system and the economic devastation of the Great Depression. In 1931, for the first time in American history, more people left the country than arrived in it. And with fewer immigrants to process and with inspections now taking place at US embassies abroad, Ellis Island mainly functioned as a facility for detention and deportation, a role that expanded with America's entry into World War II. In the aftermath of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared non-naturalized Japanese, Germans, and Italians living in the United States to be enemy aliens. Over the next month,

• 34:15Lindsay Graham?

  authorities arrested 600 people and detained them at Ellis Island, prompting The New York Times to declare, "For the time being, New York has a concentration camp of its own." And over the course of the war, Ellis Island would hold more than 7,000 alleged enemy aliens. And then after World War II, with the start of the Cold War, Ellis Island became a detention center for suspected communists. In September 1950, Congress passed the Internal Security Act, authorizing the detention and deportation of aliens with a past affiliation with any totalitarian or communist organization. In accordance with this law, a diverse array of immigrants, foreign visitors, dissidents, and refugees risked being trapped at Ellis Island for weeks, months, or even years at a time.

• 35:04Lindsay Graham?

  Imagine it's early in the morning in November 1950 on Ellis Island. You're a lawyer for the Hungarian-born concert violinist Joseph Saget, and you rushed here after getting a call late last night that he was detained just minutes after his arrival in New York for a concert tour. Now you're walking through the grand, empty Great Hall with an immigration official intent on securing Saget's release. You have to know, this is ridiculous. You lock up one of the world's foremost concert violinists? My client has performed in this country for 25 years. He's lived in California with his wife, a naturalized citizen, for the last nine years.

• 35:39Speaker 00

  The only reason he went abroad was to play concerts in Europe.

• 35:43Lindsay Graham?

  The official pulls a crisp, white handkerchief out of his suit coat and starts cleaning his glasses. You and your client just need to be patient. It's gonna take time for the Justice Department to review the evidence. Then I demand to know the precise charges against him. What specific evidence do they have? I'm not at liberty to disclose that information. Well, unless I'm told the contents of the Justice Department's files, I won't be able to craft a case in defense of my client.

• 36:06Speaker 00

  The official neatly folds his handkerchief,

• 36:08Lindsay Graham?

  puts it back in his suit pocket, and checks his pocket watch. His detached indifference only stokes your anger. Does this have something to do with the Internal Security Act? I'm not required to tell you one way or the other. My client isn't some communist in hiding. His only interest is music. He has no politics. He's played benefits for causes of all kinds. Once, I believe, for Russian war relief on the West Coast. So tell me, is that what this is about? Look, I couldn't possibly say. But I assure you that the authorities will review all possible evidence. Well, I'm counting on it. I'll be filing a petition with the Justice Department to release my client on parole pending a hearing. You're welcome to try. But we have a responsibility to the American people to keep the nation safe from communism.

• 36:50Speaker 00

  So now if you'll excuse me.

• 36:54Lindsay Graham?

  The official turns and walks away, leaving you alone in the empty hall. It's strange to think that this room was once full of immigrants, all waiting for their chance to enter America. Now it seems to be little more than an island prison, where secrecy reigns and civil liberties have all but disappeared.

• 37:14Lindsay Graham?

  After being detained at Ellis Island for several days, violinist Joseph Saget was eventually released. Others were less fortunate. Thanks to the Internal Security Act, immigration officials now had broad powers to detain non-citizens for past links to communist or totalitarian organizations, which threatened to exclude most Germans and Italians from immigrating. A German war bride was detained because she once belonged to a Hitler Youth organization, a mandatory requirement during her teenage years in Nazi Germany. An Italian opera singer was detained because she had attended a fascist school as a child, the only option under Italy's fascist regime. But detainees had little recourse to challenge these decisions. And in the 90 days after the Internal Security Act was passed,

• 37:58Lindsay Graham?

  the population of Ellis Island tripled. One detainee described the crowded conditions, recalling, "The noise became unbearable, and the establishment was a complete madhouse. Men slept 250 to 300 in one dormitory, and fleas feasted on everyone." For many of these detainees, the barred windows, wire fences, and constant surveillance mimicked the experience of a prison. And Life magazine described Ellis Island "as a gray and gloomy place suddenly full of bewildered people who become victims of American politics." The New York Times declared "That the island's name has become a symbol for being unwanted by America." And to many, Ellis Island had begun to undermine the ideals of freedom the United States was championing in the fight against Soviet tyranny. And as time wore on,

• 38:43Lindsay Graham?

  it became harder to justify the massive costs of maintaining such a large detention center. So in November 1954, the Eisenhower administration changed course, announcing a new policy in immigration enforcement. Only those considered a flight risk or a threat to national security would be held, while others would be released on parole and to their cases could be heard. As part of this new policy, officials announced the impending closure of six government detention centers, including Ellis Island. On November 12, 1954, Ellis Island shuttered its doors for good. A Norwegian fisherman, who had overstayed his shore leave, was the final detainee. Officials released him on the condition that he would rejoin his ship and return home. Soon after,

• 39:27Lindsay Graham?

  an editorial in The New York Times looked back on the legacy of Ellis Island, declaring, "Perhaps someday a monument will go up. The memory of this episode in our national history should never be allowed to fade." But instead, Ellis Island was left to decay. Vandal stole doorknobs and filing cabinets. Rain and snow blew in through broken windows, and weeds sprouted in the floors. And with quota restrictions still in place, immigration remained at record lows. In 1960, just over 5% of Americans were foreign-born, compared to nearly 15% in 1890. But in 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson embraced a new immigration policy as part of an ambitious domestic agenda called the Great Society.

• 40:11Lindsay Graham?

  In his State of the Union address, he called for an immigration law "based on the work a man can do, and not where he was born or how he spells his name." Later that year, Congress overwhelmingly passed the 1965 Immigration and Nationality Act into law, ending the ethnic quota system after 44 years. Then in October 1965, Johnson signed the bill at the base of the Statue of Liberty, where he called the quotas "a deep and painful flaw in the fabric of American justice and a cruel and enduring wrong." The new law placed a ceiling of 20,000 immigrants for every country, giving preference to those with close family in the US and prioritizing skilled workers and refugees. These new regulations shifted immigration

• 40:55Lindsay Graham?

  from Europe to Asia and Latin America. Mindful of its historical importance, Johnson also issued a proclamation placing Ellis Island under the National Park Service as a part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, preventing its sale to private developers. But despite grand visions of an immigration monument, funding failed to materialize, and for years, Ellis Island remained a neglected ruin. But over the next two decades, ethnic communities increasingly reclaimed it as part of their identity. In time, Ellis Island reemerged as an icon of the immigrant experience and a powerful symbol of American history even akin to Plymouth Rock. But it was not until the 1980s that the National Park Service finally solicited enough private donations

• 41:39Lindsay Graham?

  to begin restoring the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. It was at last in 1990 that Ellis Island finally opened as an immigration museum, allowing visitors to retrace the immigrant journey in reconstructions of the Great Hall and other facilities. While operational over the course of three decades, Ellis Island saw more than 12 million immigrants pass through its gates. As a modernizing nation confronted the challenges wrought by industrial growth and mass migration, this tiny island in New York Harbor became the focus for a long and contentious national debate over what it means to be an American. For some, it was a gateway to a new life, a symbol of hope and perseverance. For others, it was a place of exclusion, heartbreak, and misery.

• 42:23Lindsay Graham?

  And today, the debate that defined the Ellis Island era rages on as the nation continues grappling with the question of who is entitled to a chance at the American dream.

• 42:36Lindsay Graham?

  From Audible Originals, this is episode three of our three-part series on Ellis Island for American history tellers. In the next episode, we explore some of the personal stories buried in the Ellis Island archives and how uncovering them brings the immigrant experience to life in some surprising ways.

• 42:57Lindsay Graham?

  American History Tellers is only possible because of listeners like you, so thank you. And don't miss an episode. Be sure to follow American History Tellers on Audible or wherever you get your podcasts. Audible subscribers can binge new seasons of American History Tellers early and ad-free right now. Join Audible in the Audible app or by subscribing on Apple Podcasts. And to find out more about me, including my other podcasts, my live show, the history tours I'm arranging, and all sorts of other things, go to historyishuman.com. That's historyishuman.com. American History Tellers is hosted, edited, and produced by me, Lindsay Graham, for Airship. This episode is written by Ellie Stanton, edited by Dorian Marina, senior producers

• 43:42Lindsay Graham?

  Alida Razansky and Andy Herman, managing producer Desi Blalock, audio editing by Mohamed Shazib, music by Thrum, sound design by Molly Bach, executive producer for Audible, Jenny Lauer Beckman, head of creative development at Audible, Kate Navin, head of Audible Originals North America, Marshall Louis, chief content officer, Rachel Giatze, copyright 2026 by Audible Originals LLC. Sound recording copyright 2026 by Audible Originals LLC.

• 44:30Speaker 03

  You stepped out for your morning jog, except it's not your usual morning jog. You started listening to an epic sci-fi book on Audible. Thirty chapters later, you've accidentally run a half marathon. You've lost track of how far you've run, somewhere just past the city limits. You can't stop. You have to find out what happens next.

• 44:49Speaker 03

  Then it's over. The universe seems bigger. You feel different. You feel like you have no idea where you are. Audible. Stories that speak to you.