If you came here 100 years ago to Ellis Island, you got screened for TB. About two-thirds of the people got turned back at Ellis Island.

Two-thirds of the immigrants were not turned away at Ellis Island. This is a profoundly stupid, ahistorical thing for Alex to claim. Think about it. These people came over here on ocean liners and arrived at Ellis Island in the tens of thousands. Thousands a day was not an uncommon thing during that time period. If two-thirds of them were turned away... Where would they fucking go? Are you going to incarcerate all those people? How much do you think that would cost? Are you going to pay for ships to take them back to wherever they came from? How much do you think that would cost? And how much time would you waste crossing the sea? I'll tell you what, you should shut down the government to make sure that it doesn't happen. In reality, only about 10% of the people who arrived at Ellis Island were subjected to heightened health screenings. And 90% of those people were passed through with no problems. According to Barry Monero, Ellis Island historian and librarian at the Ellis Island Museum, the people in charge were largely just concerned with rooting out communists, anarchists, and possible labor agitators. That was a very high priority in their screening interviews. Barry missed his real... Because if his name is Barry Monero, he should have been the greatest jazz artist of his age. A lounge act. Come on. Doing some good banter. Hell yeah, he should play the saxophone and be incredibly sexy. Ladies, I'm Barry Monero. Oh yeah. So most immigrants who came through Ellis Island had no documentation, no visas, no passports, nothing. And they were processed and through. They got through Ellis Island generally, not all the time, but generally within three to five hours. Some were detained while they were being processed if something came up in their history or if there had been somebody who snitched on them before they came and there had to be something sorted out or if the authorities knew who they were because they were a criminal or something like that. Then the three to five hour window, that's out the window. But if people got detained there while they were being processed, they got a dormitory and they were provided food. God damn it. Why were we doing so good back then about that? Obviously it wasn't perfect. No, of course. Everyone wasn't treated all that well. Of course. If you look back on it, it's like... Certainly better than what's going on now. I know. And with all the atrocities they were committing at the same time, somehow they were like, hey, you know what? This is actually a good idea. Let's do good here. Bananas. You know how many immigrants were turned away and rejected at Ellis Island? I know that Alex says that it's 66%. How much do you think it is? I'm going to go with 23,000. The actual number is 2%. To quote Vincent Canato, associate professor of history at the University of Massachusetts, Boston, and author of American Passage, The History of Ellis Island, quote, The greatest contradiction or irony here is that you have a massive inspection process, and you have this restrictionist sentiment, and all these people you want to keep out of the country, at the end of the day, less than 2% are rejected.

According to Barry Monero, Ellis Island historian and librarian at the Ellis Island Museum, the people in charge were largely just concerned with rooting out communists, anarchists, and possible labor agitators. That was a very high priority in their screening interviews.

I think what it is, if I had to guess... I think he doesn't know anything, number one. Yes. But then the impetus behind it, the emotional reason for it, is justifying why those white immigrants that came in are good, not based on their skin.