Ellis Island's past returns in immigration row

By Daniel Trotta

ELLIS ISLAND, New York (Reuters) - Ellis Island, once the gateway to America for millions of immigrants, is having a make-over after years of neglect that nearly allowed nature to destroy a national treasure.

But experts caution that, in all of the nostalgia, the country should remember past debates over who should be allowed into the United States.

The restoration of the back end of the 32-acre (13-hectare) island in New York harbor comes as the immigration debate rages anew and President George W. Bush's reforms are stalled.

"I do think it's interesting that we worship Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty and yet we want to pull up the gang planks now that we're here," said Kenneth T. Jackson, a history professor at New York's Columbia University.

Some 12 million immigrants, nearly all European, passed through Ellis Island before entering the United States, mostly from 1892 to 1924, though it remained operational until 1954.

Newcomers marveled at views of the New York skyline and the Statue of Liberty on a nearby island, providing memories passed down through the generations.

As many as 100 million Americans have ancestors who passed through Ellis Island, where a French renaissance-style brick palace built in 1900 welcomed hardscrabble immigrants who left the Old World behind.

That main building, with its cavernous arrivals area and soaring ceiling, was repaired in the late 1980s and attracts ferries full of American and foreign tourists.

A new project led by a group called Save Ellis Island is attempting to raise public and private funds for a $250 million rehabilitation of a labyrinth of 30 buildings that were part of a 750-bed hospital for sick newcomers.

This follows the restoration unveiled in April of the ferry building, where processed immigrants boarded boats to New York City and the New Jersey shore.

Private donations for the restoration have come from rich Americans whose ancestors arrived through Ellis Island.

NEW REALITIES

Jackson and others draw parallels between the current debate and the history of Ellis Island. A century ago it was Irish, Italians and Jews who suffered discrimination, while today it is Latin Americans and Asians.

The early 20th century image of immigration was captured in black-and-white photographs of sullen-faced women and mustachioed men in suits and hats, all lining up at the door to the land of opportunity with overstuffed suitcases.

Today that image comes from video of Latin Americans climbing over fences at the southern U.S. border, an act that sometimes precedes a dangerous trek across desert.