The topic of illegal immigration seems to be a very hot topic for many Americans. The topic seems to lose public outcry on one side or the other at any time, then suddenly cause huge tremors in our social consciousness. The topic of illegal immigration has many sub-issues, but one of the most problematic is that illegal immigrants are a financial burden on the U.S. economy. Ellis Island is where European immigrants passed through and were documented. According to June F. Tyler, “Before 1890, each state managed immigration according to its own rules. After this date, the federal government assumed this responsibility. Ellis Island became the first immigration station, opening in 1892."(1) Information obtained through the website ellisisland.org indicated that: 1921, 560,971 immigrants arrived at our borders and passed through Ellis Island . In the same year, the US Congress passed the first immigration quota law. The total number of immigrants allowed in was set at nearly 358,000. The Immigration Act of 1924 further restricted immigration and reduced the annual quota to approximately 164,000 people. This marked the end of mass immigration to America. The Immigration Act also provided for the examination and qualification of immigrants at U.S. consulates abroad. (1) It is very important to note that each immigrant was screened for any potential physical or mental illness and it was determined whether the immigrant was capable of fending for himself without becoming a burden to the public. There's no way to know. exact number of illegal aliens in our country at any given time, but in a study by the Department of Homeland Security, "there were approximately 11.6 million...... middle of paper .... ...Web. July 2, 2010. Hoefer, Michael, Nancy Rytina and Christopher Campbell. Estimates of the unauthorized immigrant population residing in the United States: January 2006. 2007. June 26, 2010. Malanga, Steven. “How Unskilled Immigrants Are Hurting Our Economy.” City-Journal (New York, NY) Summer 2006 June 7, 2004 < http://www.city-journal.org/html/16_3_immigrants_economy.html>Pitts, Byron. “Illegal immigrant births – at your expense.” CBS News. CBS interactive Inc., 2010. Web. July 7, 2010. .Temple, Andrea and June F. Tyler. Ellis Island A Historical Perspective. 2007. July 5 2010.