Upon reaching Cuba on May 27, all but twenty-eight passengers were refused entry (one passenger had died during the voyage). They then attempted to seek asylum in Florida. However, because of the quotas set by the 1924 immigration laws, the U.S. government refused to allow the passengers to disembark. The MS St. Louis was forced to sail back to Europe on June 6, 1939. The passengers were not forced to return to Germany.
