Today is the 100th anniversary of Ellis Island’s busiest day as an immigration receiving center. On April 17, 1907, the number of immigrants who arrived at the island off the Battery was 11,747, a record. The entire year 1907 saw 1,285,349 immigrants to America, more than arrived in 2006, in which America welcomed 1,266,264 new legal permanent residents into a country with a far larger population than the America of 1907. A press release from the Statue of Liberty-Ellis Island Foundation marking the moment notes that in 1907, the foreign-born population in America was 15.7%, while today it is 12.5%.

The wave of immigration in the early 20th century unleashed a remarkable period of creativity and economic growth. The foundation notes that among those who came to America through Ellis Island were songwriter Irving Berlin, comedians Henny Youngman and Bob Hope, and actors Rudolph Valentino and Cary Grant. The foundation says that 40% of Americans can trace their roots back to at least one ancestor who arrived through Ellis Island. Among those Americans are three who will be honored today with Ellis Island Family Heritage Awards: the Duke University basketball coach, Mike Krzyzewski; the CEO of the AARP, William Novelli, and the CEO of Morgan Stanley, John Mack.

We first read of the 100th anniversary of Ellis Island’s busiest day in the Jewish Week newspaper, but a wonderful thing about America is that immigrants from a wide variety of backgrounds are proud to have come here. Mr. Krzyzewski’s background is Polish, Mr. Novelli’s, Italian, and Mr. Mack’s Lebanese.

President Bush put it well in his first inaugural address: “America has never been united by blood or birth or soil. We are bound by ideals that move us beyond our backgrounds, lift us above our interests and teach us what it means to be citizens. Every child must be taught these principles. Every citizen must uphold them. And every immigrant, by embracing these ideals, makes our country more, not less, American.”

As American politicians squabble over immigration legislation and a fence along the Mexican border, our own view is that the debate can be enriched by thinking of Ellis Island and the way that those who came through it and their descendants have improved and strengthened our nation. The new Ellis Islands, in practice, are the international arrival terminals at airports such as JFK and LAX and MIA, and it will be a mark of America’s strength if 100 years from now someone is remembering their busiest days and recalling the contributions made by those who passed through those golden doors.