Stories from the Archives

Congressman and New York City Mayor Fiorello La Guardia (1882-1947) remains perhaps the Immigration Service’s most well-known former employee. As a young man, La Guardia worked as an interpreter at the Ellis Island Immigration Station.

In 1918, while World War I (WWI) raged overseas, Americans on the home front fought their own battle against an uncontrollable strain of influenza. The Spanish influenza epidemic spread quickly in the United States (U.S.) and abroad as it devastated civilian populations and military combatants. Soldiers transmitted the virus in their close living quarters and circulated it around the world as they travelled from base to base. Approximately 45,000 American service members died of influenza during WWI, nearly half of all American casualties. Eventually, the Spanish flu claimed over 650,000 lives in the U.S., just a fraction of its 20 to 50 million global victims.

The USCIS History Office’s new documentary film, “USCIS and the Legacy of Ellis Island” tells the story of the iconic Ellis Island immigration station from the perspective of the men and women who worked there. Watch it online now.