Ellis Island and today’s border not the same

Lisa Wahl’s immigration letter had one major error. The uncontrolled and illegal immigration we have today contrasts with the controlled and legal immigration of her great-grandmother’s era.

My grandparents emigrated from Stavanger, Norway, to a dry-land farm they homesteaded in Eastern Montana. They came through Ellis Island, the legal entry into the U.S.

Ellis Island history shows the immigrant selection process. Upon entry, immigrants were given the famous 30-second medical exam as doctors watched immigrants walk up the long staircase. They were searching for the halt and the lame. The eye doctor used a shoe button hook to pull back the upper and lower eyelids of immigrants to be certain their eyes were healthy. Other doctors checked other medical conditions.

Once all medical and vetting exams were complete, some immigrants had to wear a cloth pinned to their clothing with letters on it defining their status. The letters corresponded to health and social issues; B was for back, E was for eyes, H was for heart, and U was for undesirable. Those with back issues or communicable diseases, and those determined to be undesirables (prostitutes, criminals, insane) were returned to their country of origin, even if the U.S. had to pay their return passage home.

The U.S. was actively seeking young, healthy individuals to come to America, but they had standards and vetting. Today, our southern border has uncontrolled immigration, no standards and no vetting for health, skills, smuggling, or criminal behavior. We need standards and vetting. We also need a wall.