By the middle 1950s, according to the blog of genealogist Megan Smolenyak, officials were in the process of closing down the Ellis Island immigration facility. Additionally, the island’s purpose had shifted from processing immigrants to detaining them.

One such immigrant was Norwegian sailor Arne Pettersen. By his own estimates, said Smolenyak, Pettersen had been to the U.S. “six or seven times” and would enjoy his periods of shore leave here. But on his final visit, in 1954, he’d overstayed his welcome — not the first time he’d extended his shore leave in the U.S., it would turn out. The details are intricate and involve legal technicalities involving foreign sailors and shore leave, but long story short, he’d wound up in detention on Ellis Island for staying too long at the party. By December of 1954, he’d promised to leave voluntarily, and he promptly did nothing of the sort. It took until February of 1955 for authorities to see to it that Pettersen actually boarded a ship that was headed somewhere else — in this case, the M.S. Stockholm. Newspaper cameras captured the moment

In her research, Smolenyak uncovered a handwritten note written by someone involved in Arne’s story. “This is the alien that got all the publicity — TV etc., as the last detainee released from the Island when it closed last November,” the note read.