Chapter 3 · The crossing · Detention & return
Not every immigrant walked straight off the island, and not every immigrant stayed. The pages recording detained passengers name the person who came to collect them, and a surprising number of Polish immigrants crossed the Atlantic two or three times.
Detained aliens
Passengers who could not leave the island at once, most often women and children waiting for a husband or father to collect them, were listed on a separate “record of detained aliens” at the end of the manifest. The list gives the reason, the name of the person who came for them and often an address.
Boards of Special Inquiry
Passengers suspected of being likely to become a public charge, of illness, or of travelling to a prearranged job were held for a hearing. The record of aliens held for special inquiry gives the reason and the decision. Most were admitted, sometimes after a relative vouched for them.
Birds of passage
Before 1914 perhaps a third of Polish immigrants went home again, many of them men who worked a few years to buy land in their village. Many came back a second time. A 1910 manifest may state that the passenger was previously in the United States from 1904 to 1908, in Pittsburgh.
- An earlier manifest with a different spelling of the name
- An earlier American address, and possibly a census entry
- Arrivals in Hamburg or Bremen recording the journey home
- Land purchases in the home village after the return
How we can help
Immigration & Passenger Records follows every crossing in both directions, including the detention pages most searches never open.