In February 1921, New York health officials sounded an alarm over the way immigrants were being inspected before entering the city.
Dr. R. S. Copeland, New York’s health commissioner, believed the system had failed. According to his complaint, people had been cleared by federal immigration authorities only to be examined afterward by city officials and found to be carrying vermin, which officials feared could spread typhus.
Copeland claimed that, within two weeks, two immigrants with early signs of typhus had been allowed to land. In response, city health authorities began examining arrivals themselves…