Child separation was also part of Ellis Island experience

Everyone traveling in steerage was subjected to an inspection of both their paperwork and their medical history.

The Palm Beach Post letter to the editor “Separating kids from families just wrong” (Tuesday) from Albert Stein queried what would have happened when his grandparents emigrated from Russia if their children had been taken from them. It’s impossible to know from Stein’s writing when his grandparents came to the United States, but when my grandparents and my husband’s grandparents arrived at Ellis Island, their children were, indeed, separated from them.

If you read the history of Ellis Island, you will learn that everyone traveling in steerage was subjected to an inspection of both their paperwork and their medical history. Everyone without proper documentation, anyone with a criminal background, those who authorities felt would be a drain on society and anyone deemed a danger to the public health due to a contagious disease was returned to their country of origin. Sick children 12 and older were returned to their home by themselves. Those younger than 12 were also sent home but in the care of one parent. If papers were in order and the passenger was in relatively good health, they were released within a few hours.

My husband’s mother was 5 when she arrived in the United States. She was taken from her parents and placed in isolation while doctors determined that she was in good health. Was it a frightening experience? Of course. Was it necessary to ensure the health and well-being of the citizens of this country? Absolutely.

Arthur Murray, Walt Disney and Bob Hope all became American citizens by first “visiting” Ellis

Island as children. Thousands of other children who did not become wealthy and famous also came to the United States through Ellis Island. The one thing they all had in common was the belief that any trauma they suffered entering this country legally was worth it.

Even now, 60 years after my grandmother’s death, I can still hear her say “A-mer-ica” with a trace of her northern Italian accent still in her voice and a degree of reverence I have never forgotten.

DONNA M. CARBONE, PALM BEACH GARDENS