Detention at Angel Island

From 1910 to 1940, Angel Island Immigration Station was built to enforce laws that specifically excluded Chinese and other Asian immigrants from the country. Chinese seeking admittance to the U.S. were subject to interrogations and humuliating physical examinations under the pretext of determining their eligibility to enter the country. They were housed in barracks while awaiting decisions by the authority. They waited for days, weeks, months, sometimes years. While in detention they carved poems expressing their fears and frustrations into walls. Many of the poems are still readable today. In 1940 a fire burned down the Station’s administrative building which led to the closing of the entire station.

For more information, go to www.chineseamericanstories.blogspot.com/p/angel-island-immigration-station.html and Angel Island Immigration Station