During the Progressive Era, many immigrants came to the U.S.A through Ellis Island and Angel Island, admitting well over 12 million immigrants into the U.S.A. Many immigrants were people trying to escape war, religious persecution, oppression, poverty, and many were hopeful of new jobs and fresh starts.
Industrialists were a big part of the promise for immigrants, they were a big source of jobs, which is what many immigrants were looking for. Examples of important industrialists were John Davis Rockefeller, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and Henry Ford just to name a few. Industrialists were the ones who made the promise of jobs come true.
Some problems with many industrialists was that they didn’t pay workers very much, which was part of why these