Learn American history FooFighter, there was no illegal immigration (except if you were Chinese) to the US until after 1921 because there were no limitations on immigrants before then...in other words, until after the vast majority of Italians got here.
"No illegal immigration"?? Of course not -- U.S. immigration authorities enforced it's laws and procedure back then. I'm surprised you could be this ignorant about the history of immigration for an "immigration lawyer," Luicito. Good thing you barely have to lift a finger these days to get a client citizenship these days...
Who came through Ellis Island during its heyday as an immigration depot and what happened to them during their stay?:
First and second class ship passengers never set foot on Ellis Island. They were inspected and interrogated in the privacy of their ship cabins and landed in Manhattan. All others traveling third class or steerage were required to be processed on Ellis.
The first officials that immigrants encountered face-to-face on the island were federal physicians in search of newcomers with contagious diseases, mental abnormalities, or physical deformities that might limit newcomers' abilities to support themselves. Those whom inspectors wanted to examine further were detained and chalked with a code letter to indicate the reason for the holdover--"K" for hernia, "L" for lung, "E" for eye, "H" for heart, "X" for mental disorder.
After completing the medical examination, immigrants were assembled in the Great Hall. Immigration Bureau officers called newcomers' names from the manifests of the ships on which they arrived. The immigration officer verified names and asked numerous questions concerning marital status, occupation, nationality, final destination, and the sum of money that the immigrant carried. Those with insufficient funds or a relative to sustain them while they hunted for a job might be detained or even rejected.
Only one in six newcomers was detained on Ellis Island. One group that encountered special difficulty was young single women arriving unescorted. With few occupations open to women, officials feared that young women would either fall destitute and become wards of the state or, worse yet, suffer a moral fall and turn to prostitution. Therefore women were not permitted to leave the island unescorted. Others detained were those awaiting funds from relatives so they could support themselves and reach their final destinations. Copious dormitories housed those detained for medical, mental/emotional, financial, or other reasons while they awaited hearings before boards of review. Those denied entry by such boards had a final appeal to Washington.
Most newcomers spent only a few hours on Ellis Island before receiving cards stamped "admitted" and taking ferry passage to Manhattan or a barge to the railroad piers of New Jersey for the next leg of their journey. They could exchange their money for American currency and purchase train tickets before departing the island. Two-thirds of those admitted bought train tickets for places other than New York City. Although there were seventy other immigration depots in this era, 90 percent of all arrivals between 1892 and 1924 were processed on Ellis. Today, over 100 million Americans can trace their heritage through someone who was processed on Ellis Island.
The story of Ellis Island has often been romanticized in novels and the electronic media. Newcomers were either the helpless huddled masses herded hither and yon by indifferent or even sinister bureaucrats, or brave souls who withstood the efforts of those who would gouge them of their money, change their names on registry lists in a spirit of nativism or cruel humor, or worse yet, reject them at the gates for frivolous reasons.
The case files and records of investigations into Ellis Island procedures included on these reels of microfilm offer a multidimensional portrait of day-to-day doings at America's flagship immigration depot. There were periodic episodes of bribe-taking and other corrupt practices on Ellis revealed in investigations. However, when charges were lodged, Congress investigated. Most federal authorities on Ellis such as commissioners William Williams and Robert Watchorn strove to be vigilant, knowing Washington and other governments were keeping Ellis Island under close scrutiny. Those seeking to take advantage of the newcomers were usually caught and punished. Equal vigilance appears to have been required of officials to see that immigrants desperate to enter the United States at all costs did not circumvent American laws and admissions procedures.
Source: http://www.lexisnexis.com/academic/guides/immigration/ins/insa3.asp