About two percent were turned back. In these heartbreaking cases, families were often forced to decide on the spot whether to split up or go back with those that were denied access. Once they passed the inspections, immigrants collected their baggage and exchanged their money for U.S. currency. There was also a railroad agent available from whom they could purchase tickets for the next leg of their journey. It is important to note that no records are known to have been kept of the immigrant processing at either Castle Garden or Ellis Island.
Passenger lists are typically the only actual records available of immigrant trips to America.
The National Origins Act in 1924 served to drastically reduce the immigration flow to this country, and subsequently through Ellis Island. It set up discriminatory quotas, and foreigners wishing to relocate permanently to the United States were required to go to U.S. consulates to apply for immigrant visas before they came over. Temporary non-immigrant visas were also available for those who only wished to travel to the country for a short time. This and subsequent restrictions added by a revision to the National Origins Act in 1929, which further reduced the maximum number of admissions to the country, reduced the flow of immigrants to a trickle. The Ellis Island Immigration Center closed in 1954 after millions of immigrants had entered America through its doors.