Sure, my point is that - no matter how bad this looks, it was approximately better than their alternatives. So it's a testament to human resilience.
That aside, that there was literally no going back, given the travel to get to NY. I had an ancestor come to NYC in the 19th c. and return back to Sweden, but he was not in the desperate straits that many were. I'm sure some would have returned, given the opportunity.
There is a real human tendency to stay in a known but bad situation instead of making the risky leap into the likely better but unknown.
You see it time and time again.