About Angel Island Essay Research Paper The

About Angel Island Essay, Research Paper

The Purpose of the Station

In 1905, construction of an Immigration Station began in the area known as China Cove.

Surrounded by public controversy from its inception, the station was finally put into

operation in 1910. Anticipated as the "Ellis Island of the West", it was

designed to handle a flood of European immigrants who were expected to begin arriving in

California once the Panama Canal was opened. International events after 1914, including

the outbreak of World War I, canceled the expected rush of Europeans.

Instead, the majority of immigrants to America via the West Coast were from Asia. Like

their European counterparts entering at New York City, they hoped to escape the economic

or political hardships of the homelands. On Ellis Island, immigrants were processed

through within hours or days; on Angel Island, they spent weeks or months.

This facility was primarily a detention center. Beginning with the Chinese Exclusion

Act of 1882, a series of restrictive laws had prohibited the immigration of certain

nationalities and social classes of Asians. Although all Asians were affected, the

greatest impact was on the Chinese. In fact, more than 70 percent of the immigrants

detained on Angel Island were Chinese.

Immigration Background

The first Chinese entered California in 1848, and within a few years, thousands more

came, lured by the promise of Gam Sann or "Gold Mountain". Soon, discriminatory

legislation forced them out of the gold fields and into low-paying, menial jobs. They laid

tracks for the Central Pacific Railroad, reclaimed swamp land in the Sacramento delta,

developed shrimp and abalone fisheries, and provided cheap labor wherever there was work

no other group wanted or needed.

During the 1870s, an economic downturn resulted in serious unemployment problems, and

led to outcries against Asian immigrants who would work for low wages. Restrictive

immigration laws were passed that allowed entry only to those who had been born in the

U.S. or had husbands or fathers who were citizens. Imperial China was too weak and

impoverished to exert any influence on American policy. Many Chinese already residing here

were deported.

Paper Sons and Daughters

There was a loophole in the exclusion law. Any Chinese who could prove citizenship

through paternal lineage would not be denied entry. Those without true fathers in the

United States became "paper sons" or "paper daughters". They bought

papers which identified them as children of American citizens. Because official records

were often non-existent, an interrogation process was created to determine if the

immigrants were related as they claimed.

Questions could include details of the immigrant’s home and village as well as specific

knowledge of his or her ancestors. Interrogations could take a long time to complete,

especially if witnesses for the immigrants lived in the eastern United States.

When it opened in 1910, the new detention facility on Angel Island was considered ideal

because of its isolation. There were buildings to house and care for detainees, a pier,

and regular boat service to the mainland. During the next 30 years, this was the point of

entry for most of the approximately 175,000 Chinese immigrants who came to the United

States. Most of them were detained on Angel Island for as little as two weeks or as much

as six months. A few however, were forced to remain on the island for as much as two

years.

Some detainees expressed their feelings in poetry that they brushed or carved onto the

wooden walls of the detention center. Others simply waited, hoping for a favorable

response to their appeals, but fearing deportation. Many of the poems that were carved

into the walls of the center are still legible today. Others were documented through the

efforts of two detainees, Smiley Jann and Tet Yee in 1931-32, who copied down the poetry

while they awaited disposition of their cases. In 1940, the government decided to abandon

the Immigration Station on Angel Island. Their decision was hastened by a fire that

destroyed the administration building in August of that year. On November 5, the last

group of about 200 aliens (including about 150 Chinese) was transferred from Angel Island

to temporary quarters in San Francisco. The so-called "Chinese Exclusion Acts",

which were adopted in the early 1880s, were repealed by federal action in 1943, because by

that time, China was an ally of the U.S. in World War II.

World War II

In 1941, following the departure of the Immigration Service from the island, the

station property was turned back to the Army, and it became the North Garrison of Fort

McDowell. When World War II began, the old detention barracks became a Prisoner of War

Processing Center, and German and Japanese prisoners were processed ther

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