Intial Response to Immigration

When I think about immigration, my mind always goes back to the times in 4th grade. Immigration day was so much fun and you really got to see what it may have been like from the immigrants coming to America. I do know that they people immigrating to America had to overcome a lot of hardships in order to reach their final destination. Many people came from oppressive countries or extreme poverty. I also learned from books that I have read that the people had big dreams upon arrival,the roads are paved with gold, but they did not always pan out the way that they had hoped. One of the things that I really want to learn about is how the immigrants decided that they wanted to move to America. Who was giving them the ideas of how great the United States was. Most of all I want to know how they survived after they past immigration. Also what happened if not all the family memebers were able to pass inspection at places like Ellis Island. When I was in New York I went and visited Ellis Island, it was giant, it would be interesting to see the hustle and bustle there was once was going on in this station.