How did Angel Island process immigrants?
Europeans and first-class passengers would have their papers processed aboard ship and be able to disembark. Asian immigrants and some other groups, including Mexicans and Russians, along with those who were thought to need quarantine for medical purposes, were sent to Angel Island.
What test did immigrants take at Angel Island?
Public health • disease and PUBLIC CHARGES In the hospital at the Angel Island immigration station, doctors examine Chinese men and boys for trachoma.
What happened to immigrants when they arrived at Angel Island?
Overall, almost everyone who came through Ellis Island (around 98% by some counts) was admitted. By contrast, 60% of the immigrants who arrived at Angel Island—most of whom were Chinese—were detained, and it took weeks or months to be released; the longest detention Lee found was 756 days.
How were immigrants separated when they arrived at Angel Island?
On Arrival at San Francisco, passengers would be separated by nationality. Europeans or travelers holding first or second class tickets would have their papers processed on board the ship and allowed to disembark.
How did Angel Island treat immigrants?
Unlike Ellis Island, where Europeans were subject to restrictions that precluded entrance for some but not most immigrants, the Angel Island Immigration Station employed discriminatory policies that were used to prevent Asians from immigrating.
How long did it take for immigrants at Angel Island to complete processing?
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.
What did chalk marks on an immigrants clothing mean?
Exemplifying this notion, PHS regulations encouraged officers to place a chalk mark indicating the suspected disease or defect on the clothing of immigrants as they passed through the line: the letters “EX” on the lapel of a coat indicated that the individual should merely be further examined; the letter “C,” that the …
How did many detained immigrants express their feelings on Angel Island?
Some detainees expressed their feelings in poetry that they carved into the wooden walls of the detention barracks. 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 barracks are still legible today.
Why was immigration through Angel Island more difficult than immigration through Ellis Island?
Explain how the immigration process at Angel Island was considered much tougher than Ellis Island. Since the Exclusion Act of 1882 made it harder for the Chinese to be cleared and Ellis Island has European immigrants.
How long were immigrants detained at Angel Island?
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. Interrogations could take a long time to complete, especially if witnesses for the immigrants lived in the eastern United States.