Angel Island Immigration Center

Angel Island Immigration Center for kids: FAQ's
Fast, fun facts and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ's) about Angel Island Immigration Center for kids.

● Where was Angel Island Immigration Center located? San Francisco Bay, California
● When was the Angel Island Immigration Center opened? Construction began at 'China Cove' in 1905 and it was opened in 1910
● What was its nickname? The "Ellis Island of the West"
● What was the purpose of the Angel Island Immigration Center? The facility was primarily a processing and detention center where people were held for weeks or months
● When did the Angel Island Immigration Center close? The Immigration Center closed in 1940 after a fire destroyed the Administration building.

Angel Island Immigration Center for kids: Background History
The Angel Island Immigration Center was primarily produced to enforce the Chinese Exclusion Acts although immigrants who arrived in San Francisco from the east via the Pacific were also detained at the compound. The investigation and interrogation process of immigrants from Japan, India, Russia and the Philippines were much less stringent than that applied to the Chinese.

Angel Island Immigration Center for kids: Immigration Laws
The US Immigration Laws particularly targeted immigrants from China. The 1882 Chinese Exclusion Act banned the immigration of laborers from China for 10 years and this period was extended by the 1892 Geary Act. The Immigration Act of 1907 also restricted immigration and established the Dillingham Commission whose report discriminated between Old and New Immigration and concluded that immigration from Asia and eastern Europe posed a serious threat to American society and should therefore be greatly reduced.

Angel Island Immigration Center vs Ellis Island
Immigrants who arrived in Ellis Island via the Atlantic from western Europe fared better than those who arrived at Angel Island. The immigration vetting process was much quicker usually  taking less than one day compared with anything up to one year in the San Francisco compound. It is estimated that between 11% - 30% were ultimately deported, whereas the deportation rate from Ellis Island was only 2%.

Angel Island Immigration Center: Exemptions
The Chinese Exclusion Act banned unskilled laborers but allowed merchants, clergy, diplomats, teachers, students as "exempt" classes to enter the United States. A son or daughter of an American citizen was also granted entry regardless of nationality. If a Chinese immigrant was related to a citizen in America, he or she would be allowed entrance into the country. This exemption resulted in the occurrence of "paper sons" and "paper daughters" in which many people falsified documents claiming their parents were in America. This was made possible by the 1906 San Francisco earthquake and fire which destroyed the immigration records of the Chinese in California.

Angel Island Immigration Center Facts and Info for kids: Brief Facts for kids via the Fact Sheet
Interesting description and brief facts about the Angel Island Immigration Center History are detailed in the following Fact Sheet. The Angel Island Immigration Center Facts are presented in a factual sequence consisting of a series of short facts providing a simple method of relating the interesting history and information about the Angel Island Immigration Center.

Angel Island Immigration Center Facts for Kids

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 1: History: Native Americans were the first inhabitants of Angel Island. They belonged to the Muwekma Ohlone tribe, a Native American people of the California coast.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 2: History: The island was named in 1775 by the Spanish explorer Juan Manuel de Ayala. He called it 'Isla de Los Angeles'. The island, with an area of 640 acres, is the largest island in the San Francisco Bay.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 3: History: In 1848 the island changed from Spanish to American when California became part of the United States at the end of the Mexican-American War.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 4: History: In 1850 the island was designated a federal military reserve with gun batteries to guard San Francisco Bay. The fortified island was used by the Union Army during the Civil War (1861 - 1865) and later used as a base for US troops fighting the 'Indian Wars' .

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 5: History: In 1892 the island was used as a quarantine station and inspection station to prevent the spread of infectious diseases, such as Yellow fever, cholera, and plague, to the United States.  by  Ships arriving from contaminated foreign ports were inspected and, if necessary, disinfected.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 6: History: The immigration station compound was initially built by the federal government to enforce the Chinese Exclusion Acts. Construction began at 'China Cove' in 1905 and the compound was opened in 1910. The location on the island was chosen because it isolated immigrants from their family and friends on the US mainland.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 7: Immigrants from China, Japan and Asia were inspected before entry was allowed into the United States. In 1910 a national system was created specifically to regulate Asian immigration

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 8: Immigration officials boarded ships arriving, via the Pacific, in San Francisco to inspect the documents of every passenger. Passengers were separated  by nationality and class

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 9: Those who passed inspection went straight to customs and into the United States. These people were the First and Second Class passengers.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 10: People who traveled in steerage usually required further inspection and were taken to Angel Island Immigration Center.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 11: The immigrants were transported from the San Francisco piers by ferries to the inspection center where everyone would undergo a legal and medical inspection.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 12: The immigration station had over 500 employees, including interpreters, and could handle over 2000 immigrants per day with sleeping accommodation for 1,000

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 13: There were 20 buildings on the compound. The immigration station consisted of:

● The a two-story Administration Building
● Segregated barracks,  30 x 30 feet, for the immigrants
● Kitchen
● Dining hall - access from the barracks through a covered passage
● The Hospital
● Laundry
● Storehouse
● Covered exercise yard
● Housing for station employees.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 14: The first stop on disembarking at the pier was the Administration Building where men were separated from women and children before undergoing the humiliating and embarrassing medical examinations.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 15: Those with incurable diseases or disabling ailments were excluded from entry and deported. Other sick people were sent to the hospital

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 16: After the medical examinations they were assigned a detention dormitory and a bunk, where they had to wait to be interrogated by the Board of Special Inquiry

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 17: Segregation: Men were separated from women and children. Detainees were housed in segregated quarters.  Asian and non-Asians were also segregated. Large ethnic groups, such as Chinese, Japanese, Indian, or Russian, were kept together.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 18: Up to 100 detainees slept in dormitories in the barracks:

● The dormitories contained bunk beds stacked three high and two across
● There was no privacy
● There were not even doors on the toilets and showers
● Conditions were described as "crowded and unsanitary, resembling a slum."
● They were both a health and a safety risk

Continued...

Angel Island Immigration Center Facts for Kids

Angel Island Immigration Center for kids
The info about the Angel Island Immigration Center provides interesting facts and important information about this important event that occured during the presidency of the 27th President of the United States of America.

Angel Island Immigration Center Facts for Kids

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 19: The compound was surrounded by barbed wire and armed guards were posted in towers to deter any hope of escape.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 20: Detainees were allowed outside the barracks only for interrogations, meals and supervised recreation in the exercise yard

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 21: Women and children were allowed for walks around island once a week

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 22: There were no newspapers or radio and usually no visitors, except for missionaries.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 23: Chinese on the mainland and leaders in the compound formed the Angel Island Liberty Association to try to make conditions more bearable

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 24: The Board of Inquiry: Immigrant applicants were interrogated by a Board of Special Inquiry. The Board of Inquiry was composed of:

● Two immigration inspectors
● A stenographer
● A translator

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 25: The Board of Inquiry was allowed to use any means it deemed fit, under the Exclusion acts and United States Immigration laws, to ascertain the applicant's legitimacy to enter the United States

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 26: The interrogation by the Board of Inquiry consisted of up to three hundred questions. The answers given to the questions were then compared to those provided by family members and friends to the same questions. Any small discrepancies resulted in exclusion and deportation.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 27: This rigorous form of checking information resulted in very long stays in the compound before a decision was made as to whether the detainee should be allowed into the United States or deported

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 28: The types of questions posed by the Board of Inquiry included those about the person's identity, place of origin, family, occupation, financial status and their planned destination in the United States. Detailed questions were asked about their village, the neighbors their homes and relatives.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 29: The amount of time it took to take the testimonies lasted for hours and sometimes days. The Board of Inquiry would often repeat the same questions looking for any small contradictions. Any hesitation when giving answers were looked upon with suspicion.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 30: When the Board of Inquiry completed its verification process the decision was made to allow the person entry into the United States or deportation.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 31: The Immigration Center closed in 1940 after a fire destroyed the Administration building.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 32: The exact number of immigrants that passed through the immigration station is unknown because the fire in 1940 destroyed the Administration Building and most of the immigration records.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 33: The compound was then the briefly used as a detention center  in World War II for the internment of Japanese nationals returning to Japan and WW2 prisoners of war.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 34: The Angel Island Immigration Center was finally closed down and abandoned by the Army in 1946.

Angel Island Immigration Center Fact 35: The site is now a federally designated National Historic Landmark administered by California State Parks and visited by many visitors and tourists to San Francisco Bay area - who also visit the famous Alcatraz Prison.

Angel Island Immigration Center Facts for Kids

Push and Pull Factors
For visitors interested in the subject of immigration refer to our website on Push and Pull Factors of Immigration which provides details of why people left their homes in various countries and moved to the United States.

Angel Island Immigration Center - President William Taft Video
The article on the Angel Island Immigration Center provides detailed facts and a summary of one of the important events during his presidential term in office. The following William Taft video will give you additional important facts and dates about the political events experienced by the 27th American President whose presidency spanned from March 4, 1909 to March 4, 1913.

Angel Island Immigration Center

● Interesting Facts about Angel Island Immigration Center for kids and schools
● Summary of the Angel Island Immigration Center in US history
● Facts about the Angel Island Immigration Center
● Medical and interrogation process at Angel Island Immigration Center
● Fast, fun facts about the Angel Island Immigration Center
● Description of Facilities at the  Angel Island Immigration Center
● William Taft Presidency and Angel Island Immigration Center for schools, homework, kids and children