Angel Island Immigration Station

Angel Island is a small isle in San Francisco Bay with a big history. In the 1800s, it was a military base of both the Civil War and the Spanish-American War. In the early 20th century, construction of an immigration station began amid public controversy. The station opened in 1910 and was billed as the Ellis Island of the West.

Prior to the opening of the Angel Island Immigration Station, thousands of Chinese nationals entered the U.S during the Gold Rush. A backlash of discriminatory legislation prohibited them from gold fields and into less lucrative, low-paying jobs. Many Chinese who were enticed to the U.S. with dreams of striking it rich instead found themselves laying tracks for the Central Pacific Railroad. The laws enacted left little choices other than to become cheap labor.

In the 1870s, the economy took a dive and rampant unemployment led to political turmoil over Asian immigrants who worked for low wages. In 1882, the first immigration law was passed in the United States barring "lunatics and felons" from entering the country. Later that year, the federal government passed the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 barring Chinese laborers from entering the United States. The law was originally for ten years but was extended and expanded until China became a U.S. ally in World War II. Even during the war only 105 Chinese were allowed into the United States each year. It wasn't until the immigration laws were rewritten in the 1960s that discrimination against Chinese immigrants was written out of legislation.

Within the U.S. Immigration Service, the Angel Island Immigration Station was known as the Guardian of the Western Gate, built to control the flow of immigrants from Asia to the United States. Asian nationals were often detained at Angel Island for months before being admitted to the United States or deported to their homeland. The facility was a detention center specifically chosen because of its isolation in the San Francisco Bay.

For thirty years, between 1910 and 1940, Angel Island Immigration Station was the point of entry for almost all Chinese immigrants to the United States, about 6,000 per year. At the time, the majority of immigration legislation was focused on Chinese, but all Asian nationals were affected by these discrimination and new legislation was introduced continuously.

The Asiatic Exclusion League, formed in May 1905, mounted a campaign to exclude Japanese and Koreans from the United States. In 1908, President Theodore Roosevelt negotiated the Gentlemen's Agreement, where the Japanese government agreed not to issue passports to laborers immigrating to the United States. The Immigration Act of 1924 cut off immigration from Japan completely for 28 years.

From January 1909 and through World War II, anti-Asian immigration bills were introduced into the California legislature every year. The ever-changing legislation affected those who had already arrived in the United States and were awaiting deposition. At the Angel Island Immigration Station, the average detention was anywhere from one month to two years.
The months of waiting for decisions was documented throughout the barracks, carved by detainees into the wooden walls of the detention center and still visible today. Two detainees, Smiley Jann and Tet Yee were detained for nearly a year from 1931-1932. While awaiting deposition they recorded the poetry and diaries from the walls of the compound creating an almost complete written account of detainee's experiences.

Angel Island Immigration Station closed in 1940. The last group of detainees (about 200 total including 150 Chinese) were moved from Angel Island to a temporary facility in San Francisco. Three years later, the federal government repealed the immigration legislation aimed at Chinese nationals who were now allies of the U.S. government in WWII.

After closing the immigration station, the island was used solely by the U.S. Army as the North Garrison of Fort McDowell. The old detention barracks became a processing center for prisoners of war. The first prisoner taken in World War II was sent to Angel Island. Both German and Japanese POWs were detained and processed on Angel Island before being moved to permanent camps on land.

After WWII, the buildings of the old immigration station were abandoned. In disrepair, they were scheduled for destruction in 1970 but by this time the island was a designated state park. A park ranger diligently pursued funds to save the dilapidated buildings and secured a grant to preserve and restore the immigration station. A museum has been created in the old barracks with re-creations of dormitories and original carvings from detainees. The Immigration Station Barracks Museum is currently undergoing a complete renovation. The station is one of only two Asian-American historic sites registered as national historic landmarks. The Angel Island Immigration Station is now a preserved piece of American history, the Ellis Island of the West.