摘要：SARS, avian flu, bioterrorism: such threats to national security at the dawn of the 21st century have renewed anxieties about controlling disease at the nation's borders. Control of infectious agents also provided the impetus for immigrant medical inspections along the U.S. coasts in the late 19th century, but, in practice, it was the weeding out of chronic disease and disability that actually motivated public health officers on "the line" at Ellis Island and other U.S. immigration stations during the first 30 years of federal control of the nation's borders.
