Angel Island Immigration Station: Difference between revisions

In 1850, President Fillmore declared Angel Island, the second largest island in San Francisco Bay, to be a military reserve. Indeed, during the Civil War, the island was fortified to defend San Francisco Bay from possible attack by Confederate forces. In the 19th century, new arrivals to the U.S. entering at the Port of San Francisco were housed and processed in quarters located at the Pacific Mail Steamship Company docks on the San Francisco waterfront. After the quarters at the docks proved inadequate and unsanitary, a study, authorized in 1904, recommended building a new immigration station on the isolated and nearby Angel Island. In 1905, the War Department transferred 20 acres of land on the north shore of the island, facing away from San Francisco, to the Department of Labor and Commerce as the site for the new immigration station. Architect Walter J. Mathews designed the station compound to include an enclosed detention center with an outdoor area and guard tower as well as an administration building, hospital, powerhouse and wharf, which was later known as China Cove.<ref name="nps" />

At Ellis Island, only between one and three percent of all arriving immigrants were rejected; at Angel Island, the number was about 18%.<ref>Howard Markel and Alexandra Minna Stern, "Which Face? Whose Nation?" American Behavioral Scientist 42, no. 9 (June/July 1999): 1318; Roger Daniels, "No Lamps Were Lit for Them: Angel Island and the Historiography of Asian American Immigration," Journal of American Ethnic History 17, no. 1 (Fall 1997).</ref> The Chinese were targeted due to the large influx of immigrants that were arriving in the United States. Chinese immigrants were seen as a threat because they occupied low-wage jobs, and after the economic downturn during the 1870s, Americans experienced serious unemployment problems. This resulted in increased discrimination against the Chinese, who were labeled as unsuitable due to their appearance and social status. The detention center was opened in 1910, after a series of laws were enacted which significantly restricted Chinese immigration. Immigrants arrived from 84 different countries, with Chinese immigrants accounting for the largest ethnic group to enter San Francisco until 1915, when Japanese immigrants outnumbered the Chinese for the first time.<ref name="Angel Island Conservancy" />

The length of time immigrants spent detained varied depending on how long the interrogation process lasted. For some it was only a few days and for others it lasted for months, the longest recorded stay being 22 months.<ref name="Angel Island">{{cite web|last1=Chow|first1=Paul Q.|title=Angel Island: A Historical Perspective (abridged) |url=httphttps://www.americansall.comorg/sites/default/files/resources/pdf/ethnic-and-cultural/13.9_Angel_Island.pdf |website=americansall.comorg |publisher=Americans All (1992) |access-date=29 September 2014}}</ref> This was significantly different from Ellis Island, which had more relaxed regulation, and allowed many immigrants to enter the United States on the day of their arrival. Interrogations were extended because of the racial discrimination against Asians that was prevalent at the time. Chinese immigrants, mostly males, claimed to be sons of Chinese individuals who were American citizens, in response to the Chinese Exclusion Act. Since children of citizens are also considered U.S. citizens, regardless of where they are born, it is illegal to deny them entry if they can prove their familial relationship. Immigrants falsely claiming familial ties became known as "[[Chinese Exclusion Act|paper sons]]" or "paper daughters". Some American citizens of Chinese descent participated in immigration fraud as purported parents in return for money, or to help other people of the same ethnicity.<ref name="Angel Island Conservancy" />

As a result, an extensive and grueling interrogation process was made to weed out the people for making fraudulent claims. The applicant would then be called before a Board of Special Inquiry, composed of two immigrant inspectors, a stenographer, and, if needed, a translator. Over the course of a few hours or days, the individual would be grilled with specific questions that only the real applicants would know about, for instance, their family history, location of the village, their homes and so on. However, a way around these questions was preparing them months in advance with their sponsors and memorizing the answers. To ensure that the applicant was telling the truth, witnesses from the United States, who were often other family members, were called in to corroborate the applicants story. The "family members" sometimes lived across the country, which extended the process, since their testimony had to be verified before proceeding. If there was any doubt that the applicant was lying then, the questioning process was prolonged. and ifIf deviation was suspected from the testimony presented by the witnesses, then the applicant and the rest of the family would be in jeopardy of deportation.<ref name="Life on Angel Island">{{cite web|title=Life on Angel Island|url=http://www.aiisf.org/education/station-history/life-on-angel-island|website=aiisf.org|publisher=Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation|access-date=29 September 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161202030710/http://aiisf.org/education/station-history/life-on-angel-island|archive-date=December 2, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

[[File:Angel Island immigration station memorial.JPG|thumbnail|Plaques in memory of Asian immigrants who were retaineddetained and interrogated in Angel Island.]]

The detentionImmigation centerStation was in operation for thirty years; however, there were many concerns about sanitation and for the safety of the immigrants at Angel Island. The safety concern was proved to be warranted when, in 1940, fire destroyed the administration building and women's quarters. As a result, all the immigrantsimmigrant detainees, about 200, were relocated to a landlocked facility in San Francisco and the former Immigration Station was returned to the U.S. Army. During World War II it served as a prisoner of war processing center and denoted as North Garrison. In 1943, Congress repealed the Chinese Exclusion Act.{{cn|date<ref name=December"Angel Island" 2022}}/>

After the war, the Army decommissioned the military installations, reduced its presence on the island, and left the former Immigration Station to deteriorate. It wasn't until 1963 that the island, including the detentionimmigration facilityfacilities still standing, was converted to a state park. The buildings were set for demolition but were spared, after Ranger Alexander Weiss discovered Chinese poetry, partially obscured by layers of paint, carved in the wooden walls of the men's barrack in 1970.<ref>{{cite news |last1=Nolte |first1=Carl |title=Alexander Weiss, ranger who preserved Angel Island poetry, dies |url=https://www.sfgate.com/bayarea/article/Alexander-Weiss-ranger-who-preserved-Angel-5845740.php |agency=SF Gate |date=October 24, 2014 |quote=Among Mr. Weiss’ achievements were his discovery of and efforts to preserve discovered poetry carved into the walls by people detained at the Angel Island immigration station. Mr. Weiss was a state park ranger at the time and learned that the state planned to demolish some of the buildings at the immigration station because they were in poor repair. He learned that the walls were covered with poetry written in Chinese and Japanese by would-be immigrants and started an effort to preserve them. Mr. Weiss was characteristically modest about his effort. 'I just started the engine,' he said. 'Others drove the project'. }}</ref> "These poems carved into the walls remain as a memorial to all of those who passed through the island's harsh detention barracks on their journey to a new life in the U.S."<ref name="nps" />