A SECOND CHANCE

In 1930 Steve Sr. again made arrangements for Štefanko to join him in Iowa. As noted in his passport he traveled via the steamship Berlin arriving in New York Harbor on June 15, 1930. I previously thought that he had come through Ellis Island and then to New Jersey where he boarded a train to Chicago. But I was mistaken. After 1924 immigrants were no longer processed at Ellis Island. 

In the early 1900s, similar to today, immigration was a controversial issue. Millions of immigrants were arriving from Eastern and Southern Europe. There were concerns that many of the newly arriving immigrants were Jews and Catholics and that they would change the Protestant character of America. The Italians, Slavs and Hungarians were seen as inferior to the Northern and Western Europeans (mostly British, Irish and Germans) who had immigrated to America earlier.

Congress passed quota laws in 1921 and 1924 that severely limited immigration from Eastern and Southern Europe. The wave of immigrants slowed considerably and Ellis Island was no longer needed. Immigrants were required to get their papers processed in their home countries prior to boarding ships. That is why Štefan’s passport has a stamp from the American Vice Consul in Prague on June 2, 1930. He was issued a non-quota Immigration Visa, which allowed him to enter the United States despite the immigration quotas, because he was an under 18-year-old child of a U.S. citizen.

Rather than going through Ellis Island, his ship docked directly in New York City at the piers along the Manhattan waterfront. He then had to find his way to the train station for the series of trains that would take him first to Chicago and then Iowa. Here is a picture of the boat docks on the New York City waterfront taken in the 1930s. And here is a link to the details of immigration law:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924GYPSIEShttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Immigration_Act_of_1924GYPSIES