442: Chinese Immigrants’ Hellish Experiences on Angel Island

While it may have been called “the Ellis Island of the West,” Angel Island in San Francisco Bay was very different from its East Coast counterpart. Unlike the reception granted immigrants arriving on the shores of New York, not all of the tired, poor and huddled masses landing on the shores of San Francisco were welcomed with open arms.

The Angel Island Immigration Station (AIIS) operated from 1910-1940, and was built with the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 in mind. With facilities, including a hospital and detention building, on an island, officials could isolate immigrants with communicable diseases and prevent Chinese immigrants from communicating with anyone in San Francisco—and like nearby Alcatraz Island, it was nearly impossible to escape.

According to the California Department of Parks and Recreation, immigrants from more than 80 countries went through AIIS during its 30 years of operation. While exact numbers are unknown, it’s estimated that between 500,000 and one million immigrants came through AIIS and according to the National Park Service, 250,000 were Chinese.

Stumping immigrants

After arriving in San Francisco by ship, passengers were separated by nationality, according to the Angel Island Immigration Station Foundation. Paperwork for Europeans and first- and second-class passengers was processed aboard the ship, and these travelers were allowed to disembark to the mainland when they landed (while first- and second-class Chinese passengers were possible, it was unlikely as oftentimes they were poor and in some cases, an entire village would pool its resources to finance one representative’s way to the United States). Immigrants from Asia and other countries, including Russia and Mexico, were required to be quarantined for “health reasons” and ferried to Angel Island to be processed.

Once they got to the island, immigrants were subjected to medical exams and tested for parasitic infections, according to the foundation. If they failed these tests, consequences included hospitalization (at the immigrant’s expense, of course) or deportation. If they passed the medical exams, immigrants were then assigned to the detention dormitory and a bunk, where they would wait to be interrogated by the Board of Special Inquiry, which included two immigrant inspectors, a stenographer, and a translator (when needed) and whose role was to determine an immigrant’s eligibility to enter the country.

During these interrogations, officials specifically asked Chinese immigrants questions about the minute details of their life in China. From their family history, to the specifics of their home life and village, immigrants were expected to know unreasonably precise details, like how many steps led up to their home and the distance between their home and their next door neighbor’s.

Any discrepancies between the immigrant’s and witness’s answers would prolong the questioning or could throw the entire case into doubt. And not only could the applicant be deported as a result, but so too could everyone in the family connected to them.

The questions were designed to stump immigrant applicants and weed out “paper sons” and “paper daughters,” who purchased false identities to pose as children of Chinese residents already in the United States. The 1906 San Francisco earthquake played a large role in this practice because a resulting fire destroyed city records and Chinese residents used the opportunity to claim American citizenship and were thus able to bring their “children” over from China.

Regardless of their relationship to their sponsor, Chinese immigrants were aware of the Exclusion Act and the extreme measures U.S. officials were taking to keep them out of the country. They anticipated these questions and spent months preparing and memorizing these details. To corroborate the applicants’ answers, witnesses—other family members living in the United States—would be called forward. Any discrepancies between the immigrant’s and witness’s answers would prolong the questioning or could throw the entire case into doubt, according to the foundation. And not only could the applicant be deported as a result, but so too could everyone in the family connected to them.