Incredible Photos Of Immigrants Arriving At Ellis Island

Ellis Island Becomes A Detention Center

After 1924 and the passage of the Immigrant Quota Act of 1921, Ellis Island was primarily used as a detention and deportation station. Following World War II, officials used it as a permanent holding facility for foreign nationals. German mariners and “enemy aliens” from Axis countries were held for reasons including spying, sabotage and other activities. Approximately 7,000 Germans, Italians, and Japanese were detained at the island.

Meanwhile, the island continued to process tens of thousands of immigrants a year — but this was far fewer than the hundreds of thousands who arrived before the war began. Following the war, immigration levels once again rose.