Use the informational text titled 'Designed to Detain' to answer the question.
DESIGNED TO DETAIN:
Angel Island has been called the “Ellis Island of the West,” but it also
is referred to as the “Guardian of the Western Gate.” Although it
was modeled on New York’s famous immigration station, Angel
Island Immigration Station did not offer the same welcome to newcomers.
Federal laws had been passed to discourage or restrict immigration from
Asian countries. Inspectors at Angel Island looked for reasons to reject the
mostly Asian immigrants that came through the station.
Most of the immigrants who ended up at Angel Island had traveled
by ship across the Pacific Ocean. First- and second-class passengers and
those returning from a visit abroad were usually questioned aboard the
ship and allowed to disembark at a pier in San Francisco. Most third-class
immigrants were transferred by ferry to Angel Island. By the time many of
those immigrants set foot on the island, they had been traveling for several
weeks.
After storing large luggage in a shed on the dock, immigrants carried
their smaller bags down a long pier to the island. The immigration station
consisted of a small cluster of wooden structures: a large administration
building, a detention barracks, a public health hospital, and a power plant.
A chainlink fence surrounded the complex of buildings.
The first stop was the administration building. Immigration officials
separated Europeans from Asians and men from women. Each person was
given an identification number and assigned to a dormitory. Chinese and
Japanese men were housed in the detention barracks. Europeans and Asian
women were kept in separate quarters on the second floor of the administration building.
Designed to
Detain
by Grant Din
The
accommodations
don’t sound
pleasant.
18
The immigration station could accommodate up to 1,000 detainees.
Rows and rows of metal bunk beds, three beds to a column, filled the dormitories. Stark bathrooms were equipped with showers, sinks, and toilets.
Immigrants were locked inside the barracks except for mealtimes, when
guards escorted them to the dining hall in the administration building.
Meals for the mostly Chinese detainees consisted of coarse rice, steamed
vegetables, and a little meat. Food was plentiful but not tasty, and Chinese
men started food riots to express their dissatisfaction.
All immigrants underwent a physical examination to make sure
they were of sound mind and in good health. Asian immigrants were
subjected to an invasive examination of their blood and stools for
signs of diseases. If sick, they were sent to the hospital for treatment.
If carrying a contagious disease, they were automatically deported.
After passing the physical examination, immigrants were interviewed by a Board of Special Inquiry consisting of two immigrant
officials, a stenographer, and an interpreter. Officials wanted to
make sure that newcomers had the ability to support themselves
or had family members in the country who were prepared to help
them. Many Chinese immigrants also tried to get around the
Chinese Exclusion Act by claiming to be related to a merchant
or a U.S. citizen. Birthright citizenship, or being able to claim a
father who was a U.S. citizen, gave an immigrant legal status and
the right to enter the country.
Aware of those efforts, officials subjected Chinese immigrants to more difficult interviews than they did for other
detainees. They questioned each individual Chinese and
anyone he or she claimed
to have as family in the
United States. They asked
a long list of detailed and
obscure questions, such
as “How many houses are
there in your village? How
many windows are there
in your house? How many
steps does it take to get to
the village well? Is there
a fishpond in the front?
Where are your grandparents buried?” If any
answers between family
members did not match,
the immigrant would be
Stools are bowel
movements.
A stenographer is a
person who takes notes
during a testimony.
Detained immigrants
slept in crowded
dormitory rooms.
Most immigrants were interviewed
multiple times as officials tried to
find inaccuracies in their stories.
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scheduled for deportation. Even some husbands and wives or fathers and
children who were truly related failed the examination.
Most of the immigrants stayed for a few days or a few weeks. Some
immigrants who faced deportation hired attorneys to appeal their cases—if
they could raise the funds. An appeal took anywhere from several months
to as long as two years. In those cases, there was not much to do but wait. A
recreation room in the barracks provided a few games. Detainees also had
access to a small yard near the barracks. Many Chinese immigrants captured their emotions in poems, which they carved onto the barracks walls.
In 1940, an electrical fire destroyed the administration building. By that
time, immigration to the United States had tapered off. Official functions
moved to San Francisco. A few years later, in 1943, the Chinese Exclusion
Act was repealed.
Historians Erika Lee and Judy Yung estimate that about 1.2 million
immigrants were processed through the port of San Francisco between
1910 and 1940. That number includes 550,000 people entering the country
and about 665,000 people leaving the country. About 300,000 immigrants
were detained at the Angel Island Immigration Station, including 100,000
Chinese, 85,000 Japanese, 8,000 South Asians, 8,000 Russians and Jews,
1,000 Koreans, and 1,000 Filipinos. Altogether, people from more than
80 different countries passed through Angel Island.
In the end, about five percent of the 300,000 immigrants who came
through Angel Island were denied entry and deported, compared with
only one percent of the 12 million immigrants
who came through Ellis Island. I
Grant Din is a descendant of four grandparents who came through
Angel Island. He is the community relations director at the Angel Island
Immigration Station Foundation.
The bathrooms offered rows
of sinks (ABOVE) . . . and
rows of toilets (RIGHT).
In one to two sentences, explain how the final immigration destination connected back to the passenger's class identification.(2 points)