On November 12, 1954, Ellis Island officially closed, ending one of the most significant chapters in American immigration history.

Between 1892 and 1954, approximately 12 million immigrants passed through the famous immigration station in New York Harbor. For many, Ellis Island represented the beginning of a new life in America. For others, it became a place of detention, rejection, and shattered expectations.

During its busiest years, Ellis Island processed thousands of immigrants daily. In 1907 alone, more than one million people passed through the station. They came seeking employment, freedom from persecution, and opportunities unavailable in their homelands.

But America’s immigration policies gradually changed.

The restrictive immigration laws of 1921 and 1924 sharply reduced arrivals, while new visa requirements shifted much of the screening process overseas. Ellis Island increasingly became a detention and deportation center rather than a gateway for newcomers.

By 1954, maintaining the enormous facility was no longer practical. On November 12, the last detainees departed, and the station closed.

The buildings subsequently deteriorated until preservation efforts eventually restored the historic complex. In 1990, the main building reopened as the Ellis Island Immigration Museum.

Today, Ellis Island remains a powerful reminder of the immigrants who helped build modern America—and of the nation’s complicated history of welcoming some newcomers while excluding others.

The doors closed in 1954, but the influence of those who passed through them continues across generations.

Read the full article, Ellis Island: The Closing of America’s Golden Door, on Exit78.

I try to steer clear of politics here, but occasionally someone comes along who makes that difficult. Stephen Miller is one of those people.

I generally keep my political opinions to myself. I don’t see much point in joining the endless arguments that dominate social media. But I’ve watched Miller for years, and there’s something about the man that I find deeply objectionable.

It’s not his political affiliation. It’s his apparent lack of compassion, his arrogance, and his willingness to use the enormous power of government against people who have little ability to defend themselves.

Miller was a leading advocate of the immigration policies that resulted in thousands of children being separated from their parents in 2018. I’ve never understood how anyone could regard that as acceptable. Enforcing immigration laws is one thing. Deliberately separating families is quite another.

His rhetoric bothers me almost as much as his policies. He talks about immigrants as though they’re an invading army, rarely bothering to distinguish dangerous criminals from ordinary people trying to make a living.

And then there’s his attitude toward constitutional protections. In 2025, he publicly discussed suspending habeas corpus in connection with immigration enforcement. That’s a fundamental safeguard against unlawful detention, not some inconvenient regulation that can be set aside whenever the government finds it troublesome.

I spent decades in nuclear power operations and training, where procedures, regulations, and limitations on authority existed for good reasons. Nobody was entitled to disregard them simply because they interfered with getting something done. I have much the same attitude toward the Constitution.

Miller is obviously intelligent and politically effective. That doesn’t make him wise, and it certainly doesn’t make him someone I want exercising more authority.

Now he’s been appointed White House chief of staff.

I don’t know Stephen Miller personally, and I don’t pretend to know what goes on in his head. I can only judge him by his public statements and the policies he’s promoted.

I’ve seen enough.

I don’t expect everyone to agree with me. That’s fine. I don’t usually share my opinions anyway.

But in this case, I thought I’d make an exception.

See also Stephen Miller: The Ideologue Behind Donald Trump’s Immigration Policies and His Rise to White House Chief of Staff