12 Million.

Approximately 12 million immigrants were processed through Ellis Island.

12 Million.

How long did Ellis Island operate for? 62 years.

So for 62 years, we only took in approximately 12 million.

In 1907, a record breaking year for new arrivals, the United States took in 1.25 million immigrants.

Let’s put this into perspective. Currently, we roughly take in about 1 million legal immigrants a year. It’s estimated we take in roughly 1 million illegal aliens per year. Through chain migration, and other abused programs such as Visa Lottery, it’s estimated we take in another 1 million immigrants per year.

Do The Math

That’s 3 million people.

It would only take 4 years to match the amount of people we took in during the entire duration of Ellis Island’s Operation. 3 Million(4 Years)=12 Million

If we are only talking legal migration, then lets say 1.5 million. 1 million + chain migration/family laws at lets say 500,000 (estimate). 12 Years/1.5=8 Years. It would take us 8 years to hit 12 million.

Let’s say we did away with chain migration and only counted legal immigrant’s only. 1 Million per year. So it would only take 12 years to reach the amount of immigrants we took in during the entire 62 years of Ellis Island’s operation!

Today’s Immigration isn’t like Ellis Island

This talking point will constantly be used. Yet there never is any effective pushback. It’s not that there should be pushback for the sake of pushback but it is comparing apples and oranges. Today’s immigration is nothing like that of the early 20th century. These numbers need to be a prominent part of this debate as Ellis Island is thrown around to liberally when the comparison isn’t a good one.