Ports of Entry SketchNote by Mae Humprhreville (September 2020)
Topics on the Page
Current Immigration Facts and Asylum in the United States
Historical Ports of Entry
- Castle Island, New York City
- Ellis Island, New York City
- Annie Moore
- Emma Lazarus
- Sullivan's Island and Gadsen's Wharf, South Carolina
- Angel Island, San Francisco
- Pelican Island, Galveston, Texas
- Columbia River Quarantine Station
- The U.S. Mexican Border
Massachusetts Link: Eras of Migration, Global Boston
There are currently 328 Ports of Entry to the United States. Here to Locate a Port of Entry in your state
Historical Cross-Links
Mexican Immigration to the United States
Chinese Immigration to the United States
European Immigration Before the Civil War
Muslim Immigration to the United States
Late 19th Century Immigration to the United States
Recent Facts
QUIZ: See How Much You Know About Immigration in the United States, Council on Foreign Relations (July 2018)
Asylum in the United States
Fact Sheet for Asylum in the United States, American Immigration Council (May 14, 2018)
Asylum in the United States: A History, Southern Poverty Law Center
The Complicated History of Asylum in America--Explained, The Week (April 28, 2019)
- No federal immigration restrictions until the Page Act of 1875 and the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882
- For more on the Page Act which applied to female prostitutes, see Barring Female Immigration
Under current U.S. and international law, anyone who physically steps on U.S. soil is entitled to apply for asylum.
- Asylum seekers must then pass a "credible fear" interview.
- Immigration Agents then determine if the person(s) faces "significant possibility of persecution or harm in their home country
- An immigration court makes the final decision
- In 2018, 89% passed initial screening; under new Trump Administration rules, only 17% were granted asylum
Castle Garden, New York City (1855-1890)
America's First Immigration Center. 8 million immigrants passed through the center before the opening of Ellis Island. Records can be searched at this site.
Beginning in 1855, it was the nation's only organized immigration center
Castle Clinton National Monument, National Park Service
Where Immigrants Came Before Ellis Island, New York Historical Society
Before Ellis Island Existed, Castle Garden Welcomed Houdini and Typhoid Mary, from Atlas Obscura (April 7, 2016)
- Among those who entered where Harry Houdini, Mary Mallon (Typhoid Mary), Nikola Tesla, Emma Goldman, Joseph Pulitzer, and Frederich Trumpf (President Donald Trump's grandfather)
Link to Dramatic Event page on the Irish Potato Famine
Ellis Island, New York City (1892-1954)
- 5000 to 10,000 people a day passed through between 1900 and 1914
Ellis Island Immigration Footage 1906
Selected Images of Ellis Island Immigration, 1880-1920, Library of Congress
Online Resources
From Ellis Island to Orchard Street, an online game set in 1916 from New York City Tenement Museum
Ellis Island Interactive Tour!
Lower East Side Tenement Museum Virtual Tour
Gittel's Journey: An Ellis Island Story, Leslea Newman. Illustrated by Amy June Bates
- Picture book story of a young Jewish girl emigrating from Eastern Europe in the early 1990s
Links to Primary Sources from Ellis Island for students from the Parks Service.
Statue of Annie Moore, Cobh, Ireland
Annie Moore
Annie Moore: First Immigrant Through Ellis Island, from Ellis Island Foundation.
- She is honored by two statutes, one in Cobh, Ireland and the other at Ellis Island.
Story of the First Through Ellis Island Is Rewritten, New York Times (September 14, 2006).
- She did come to New York City from Ireland at age 15, but she did not, however, go west to Texas to pursue the American Dream only to meet a tragic death in a streetcar accident at age 46.
- Instead she had 11 children (only 5 lived to adulthood) and lived a poor immigrant's life on the Lower East Side, dying at age 50.
Annie Moore is memorialized in the song "Isle of Hope, Isle of Tears" by the group Celtic Thunder (lyrics here).
- Listen to the song sung by Ronan Tynan on YouTube
Life of First Ellis Island Immigrant Revealed, NPR (September 15, 2006)
Emma Lazarus
For Information about Emma Lazarus, link to Late 19th Century Immigration to the United States
Sullivan's Island and Gadsden's Wharf, South Carolina
Sullivan's Island is Known as the Ellis Island of Slavery
Africans in Carolina, Lowcountry Digital History Initiative
Gadsden's Wharf, Charleston, South Carolina: A Port of Entry for Enslaved Africans
- 40 percent of all enslaved Africans brought to British North America entered here.
- From 1783 to 1807, the largest single point of entry to North America for enslaved Africans.
- It is estimated that more than 80 percent of all African Americans can trace at least one ancestor to the area (National Geographic, November 2023, p. 30).
- Now the site of the International African American Museum (IAAM).
Middle Passage Ceremonies and Port Markers Project
- Identifying all ports of entry for Africans during the 350 years of the Atlantic Slave Trade.
Link to Origins of the Atlantic Slave Trade
Primary Sources on The Transatlantic Slave Trade
Angel Island, San Francisco (1910-1940)
Immigration Station, Angel Island, San Francisco Bay
About Angel Island
Known as the Ellis Island of the West
Built to handle influx of European immigrants coming to California through the Panama Canal that never happened; instead majority of immigrants came from China, Japan and other parts of Asia and they were detained for weeks or months at the station
Wong Chung Hong was the first recorded person to enter the country after being admitted and detained at Angel Island.
Native Americans from the Muwekma Ohlone tribe were the first inhabitants of the island
Japanese Immigrants, 1860 to 2008
Discovering Angel Island: The Story Behind the Poems, a lesson plan on realities of immigration through Angel Island.
When the "Enemy" Landed at Angel Island, National Archives, Summer 2009
- Discusses the arrival of non-Asian immigrants at Angel Island during the early 20th century
Link to Dramatic Event page on Chinese Immigration to the United States
Pelican Island, Galveston Texas
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| Former Immigration Station, Galveston, Texas |
Forgotten Gateway: Coming to America through Galveston Island, Houston Museum of Natural Science
Ellis Island on the Gulf: Remembering the Galveston Movement, Houston Public Media
- Between 1907 and 1915, 10,000 Jewish Immigrants from the Russian Empire passed through the Port of Galveston
- Fleeing persecution and death in Europe
- Link to the Galveston Movement from Texas State Historical Society
- The Galveston Movement: When the Jews Left Russia and Landed in Texas, The Jerusalem Post (September 6, 2015)
Galveston Immigration Database from Galveston Historical Foundation
Records Open Window to Immigration Past, Houston Chronicle (April 25, 2015)
The Great Galveston Hurricane of 1900
- The deadliest natural disaster and hurricane in U.S. history
Columbia River Quarantine Station, Washington State
Known as the Ellis Island on the Columbia River
Columbia River Quarantine Station at Knappton is Established, May 9, 1899, Online Encyclopedia of Washington State History
Columbia River's Ellis Island: The Story of Knappton Cover, Washington State Library
Link to dramatic event page The 1918 Influenza Pandemic
The US/Mexican Border
Image from Business Insider
The border is 1993 miles long.
How Crossing the U.S. Mexico Border Became a Crime
- For most of American history, immigrants could enter the United States without official permission and not fear criminal prosecution by the federal government
- That changed with the Immigration Act of 1929
How We Got Here: The Roads We Took to America, Houston Institute for Culture
Link to Mexican Immigration to the United States
5 Facts About Mexico and Immigration to the United States, Pew Research Center (February 11, 2016)
The U.S. border fence near El Paso, Texas
Using Military at the U.S. - Mexican Border, an interesting learning plan (for older students) from PBS about Esequiel Hernandez, a young man shot down by Marines at the border.
Link to Puerto Rico: History and Government for information on Puerto Rican Citizenship
Further Reading:
Contemporary Immigrant Gateways in Historical Perspective, focusing on 'settlement trends of immigrants during the periods that bookend the twentieth century, both eras of mass migration', an article by Audrey Singer.