what is the immediate effects of ellis island in america history

Compiled by Huang Daqiang and Lin Zhongfen

Recently, Dr. James Moriarty, an archaeologist at the University of San Diego, USA, based on the discovery in the shallow sea of ??the Palas Verde Peninsula in California, USA, three years ago, And near Cape Medesino in California, a "stone anchor" used by the Chinese for navigation two to three thousand years ago was found. Among the cultural relics unearthed in Mexico, South America, there are dozens of ancient Chinese copper coins attached to Buddha statues. Among the cultural relics unearthed in Peru are stone tablets engraved with the Chinese character "Tai Sui"... and other historical relics. Therefore, Dr. Moriarti recently sent a letter to my country's famous archaeologist Jia Lanpo, saying: "Due to a series of new discoveries, evidence has begun to be provided that the Chinese sailed across the Pacific before Columbus."

Through exchanges and research between archaeologists from China and the United States, combined with references from other historical artifacts and historical records, we can conclude that the Chinese had arrived in the Americas a thousand years before Columbus.

The compatriots who came to the United States to make a living at that time were treated cruelly and miserably by the sailing ship company from the moment they stepped on the gangplank of a sailing ship. In order to make profits from overloading, the sailing company disregarded the life and death of the passengers and packed them into the "tongcang" where they could not straighten their backs and could not breathe, just like transporting goods. At that time, it took more than 80 days to sail from Hong Kong to San Francisco (San Francisco on the west coast of the United States). If there was a typhoon, it might even take half a year to reach the other side. During their long and painful voyage, due to poor sanitary conditions, many people contracted diseases on the ship and died without medical treatment. Even those who were physically strong could withstand the disease, but sometimes they died due to the wooden partitions between the upper and lower parts of the ship. If it breaks due to excessive pressure, the people sitting and lying below will be crushed to pieces and legs, become disabled, and even lose their lives on the spot. According to records, there was a sailing ship named "Liberda" that set sail from Hong Kong with 500 Chinese workers on board. However, when it arrived in San Francisco, 100 Chinese workers died during the voyage.

Before the U.S. government’s Chinese Exclusion Act was established in 1882. After traveling long distances and going through many dangers, our compatriots who were fortunate enough to arrive in the United States were subject to interrogation, examination and other harsh treatment when entering the country. Although the degree was not as severe as it was later, after the ship docked, the personal safety of our compatriots was still There is no guarantee at all. Because Chinese workers were well-known for their hard work and low wages, local residents had the illusion that their poor Chinese brothers were their competitors in their pursuit of life. The bourgeoisie split the unity of the working class and provoked it, thus creating a mentality of exclusion and hostility. Whenever a sailing ship docked and the Chinese workers stepped ashore, they were thrown by the locals with stones along the way, and their heads were even bruised and bloody. He was dying, but the perpetrators could get away with it, and the police turned a blind eye and did not intervene to stop him. In 1876, a lawyer defending the Chinese named Frederick Bee presented his own testimony of the above situation before the Chinese Immigration Committee of the U.S. Congress.

In 1892, the Chinese Exclusion Act’s ten-year ban on Chinese workers from entering the country had expired, but the U.S. government did not abide by the law because I paid taxes every year and worked hard to prosper the United States. As people with a moral obligation to keep their word, overseas Chinese actually extended the time limit for banning Chinese workers from entering the country and added a provision banning the naturalization of all Chinese.

In addition, California Congressman Thomas J. Geary added a regulation that restricts Chinese people, requiring Chinese people in the United States to re-register with the government and apply again to obtain documents for legal residence in the United States. This caused the Chinese association in the United States, an overseas Chinese group in the United States, to oppose the interests of overseas Chinese and called on the Chinese to passively resist such capricious and contradictory harsh regulations, so that although the bill was announced, the majority of overseas Chinese in our country were united. , unable to execute despite concerted resistance. In the end, the US government authorities at that time did not hesitate to use high-pressure measures and declared that they would deport my overseas Chinese who had not re-registered. I, an overseas Chinese, fought alone for several times, but still could not get due protection from the then Qing government in my motherland for the legitimate interests of overseas Chinese. In the end, I had no choice but to swallow my anger and was forced to accept registration again.

In addition to physical and mental torture, the imprisoned compatriots are also squeezed economically by the immigration stations. Because the Chinese immigrants tried every means to raise a travel expense and traveled thousands of miles across the ocean to come to the United States to join relatives and friends, hoping to find a way out in life. As soon as the evidence landed, they were sent to the "Hall of Hell" and subjected to unbearable and difficult interrogation. In order to pass the "Immigration Station", they would not hesitate to use their remaining panchuan, or try to borrow money from relatives and friends in the United States, to pay bribes to the "Immigration Station", "King of Hell" and "Judges". In order to obtain a more favorable review, they can enter the country. They feel bitterness in their throats and hatred in their hearts like eating Coptis chinensis. An editorial in the American Chronicle on September 5, 1917 stated: "Since the date when the Chinese Exclusion Act came into effect, incidents of corruption and bribery among immigration officials have arisen." The newspaper added: "Bribery incidents are often difficult to prove. Juries rarely convict accused officials based on Chinese evidence, but Chinese evidence is the only evidence." Therefore, although the authorities at the Angel Island "Immigration Station" continued to Being accused of corruption is difficult to prove and convict.

Because of this, the officials of the US Immigration Service are emboldened to carry out greedy and cruel exploitation of my imprisoned compatriots without restraint. The suffering of my imprisoned compatriots is even more unspeakable.

The only reason why the immigration station locked them up was to wait for the interrogator to conduct strict and repeated interrogations, so that based on the results of the interrogation, it could be decided whether each person was allowed to enter the country or whether he was finally judged. Deported back to the country. Therefore, every compatriot who is imprisoned and interrogated faces endless and harsh interrogations. If his answers are not fluent during the interrogation, or he answers the wrong question, he is in danger of being deported back to his country. The physical and mental suffering suffered by the overseas Chinese can be seen in the poems written with blood and tears by my compatriots who were on trial at that time and carved with their own hands on the wooden walls of the barracks. One of the poems reads: "Why should I be imprisoned? It's just because the country is weak and the family is poor. Chun Xuan leans against the door and there is no news. His wife and children are surrounded by him and he feels lonely. Even if he is allowed to go to the port, when will he return to Tangshan with a full load? Since ancient times, many people have been humble when going out, and many people have returned after fighting." There are many other remnants of poems carved on the wooden walls with knives at that time. They were later preserved by historians as precious cultural relics, and today they have become the names of our compatriots in the United States. Historical testimony of the torture at the Angel Island Immigration Station. It is a pity that there are still a large number of poems written on the walls with only pen and ink at that time, but they have been obliterated due to repeated washing or gray paint over time.

The American female writer Marley Bamford wrote a book called "Angel Island: Ellis Island in the West" in 1971. In the book, she described how she saw several When the Chinese woman was about to be deported, she said: "I saw these poor people coming here from far away, only to be driven back in front of the gate of the United States. It really saddened those who saw it, and I was deeply saddened. I remember a very unpleasant scene. I led a group of women to visit the island and obtained special permission to enter the barracks where Chinese women were detained. When we approached these barracks, we heard many strange and chaotic voices. It turned out to be Chinese women. They kept wailing in protest for their three companions who were sentenced to deportation. At this moment, the three deported women walked in front of me and went to the "Mongolia" ship that was sailing that day. Go and send them back to China. These poor people cry endlessly..."

The three Chinese women whom the female writer Marley Bamford met by chance were just that. They are three of the thousands of compatriots who have been expelled back to China. Also, after suffering physical and mental torture in a detention center for a long time, they suddenly learned that they were sentenced to be deported back to their country. In addition to grief and anger, they couldn't figure out their thoughts for a while and committed suicide with hatred. According to Yu Zhen, who came to California with her mother in 1930 at the age of five: “She still remembers hearing other women talk about a woman while waiting in line to eat. The tragic incident of hanging himself in the bathroom just now”

Judging from the result, this act of resistance was successful, and from the perspective of the process, it was a spontaneous action by the compatriots present. If the abuse of Chinese people at Angel Island Immigration Station is not corrected, the resistance of my imprisoned compatriots will not stop for one day. In 1930, workers in San Francisco successively organized the "Chinese Unemployed Labor Union" and then united with the unemployed Westerners. They held massive demonstrations and petitions with more than 100,000 participants, and obtained the forced consent of the U.S. government. After the victory of providing unemployment benefits of thirty dollars per person per month, the U.S. government found various excuses to persecute our union leaders, charged them with "political prisoners", and sent them to the concentration camp at Angel Island Immigration Station. , and will be deported later. In this way, the spirit of resistance and struggle experience of the Chinese in San Francisco against unreasonable treatment were brought into the Angel Island Immigration Station. The mistreatment of the Chinese incarcerated at Angel Island Immigration Station has been mentioned above. The most unbearable thing is that three meals a day are provided with foul smelling food that is unpalatable. They have no regard for the life and death of our incarcerated compatriots. Cruel deprivation of food. Even going to the open space in the yard next to the house, which is surrounded by a four-meter-high barbed wire fence to get some fresh air every day, is subject to various restrictions. In the past, my imprisoned compatriots were very dissatisfied with this, but they could only resist passively, sometimes venting their inner resentment by shouting and swearing. They wrote to the consul stationed in the United States by the Kuomintang government at that time to negotiate, but to no avail.

In 1931, the Chinese dormitories at the Angel Island Immigration Station had already been organized into "autonomous associations". The purpose of the US immigration authorities was to use the Chinese to manage the Chinese so as to reduce the risk of direct contact with them. of friction. But this dormitory “autonomous association” happens to be used by my imprisoned compatriots as a tool for collective resistance against the abuses of the US immigration authorities.

For example, regarding the corruption and extortion of immigration officials, although they were protected by official guards, under pressure from all parties, a federal grand jury had to expose the case in 1917. In the largest corruption and bribery case, 25 immigration officials were dismissed, transferred or forced to resign, two lawyers had their licenses revoked, and several senior officials were found guilty. From here we can see that wherever there is oppression, there is resistance. The resistance spirit of our compatriots is unyielding.

4. Changes in the attitude of the United States towards our overseas Chinese

5. Angel Island today

My literary writer in the United States, Mr. Ohori Oki, was attending the unveiling ceremony of the monument Later, he recalled the bitter years he spent in the wooden house on Angel Island when he entered the country forty years ago, and recalled the past. There were also poems published in local newspapers, which can also be used as evidence for historical data. The poem goes:

Why do old things need to be written into poetry again? The harsh immigration regulations have been abolished for a long time. The shame, anger, sorrow and hatred of the past have already been written on the wooden walls.

All of the above-mentioned poems from relatives living thousands of miles away are vivid and touching historical relics that have been transmitted to the motherland. They have aroused the cries of love out of flesh and blood from the readers of the motherland. The following are some from readers. The poem expresses the people's sincere sympathy and longing for overseas compatriots. The poem goes:

I left my hometown at an early age and traveled far away with difficulty. I stayed in Angel Island and wrote about the blood-wood barracks. The poem is still there, the ambition of a strong country can be rewarded, who dares to use the sword again? Taidai towers over China!

Note "Mount Tai is also known as Zongdai"

There is another poem:

The harsh trial is boundless, the body is being judged in hesitation, the sky is opened with two white hands, split The earth has a red heart, the overseas Chinese are known for their patriotism, their hard work is known to the world, their achievements are immortalized in the annals of history, and they are deeply appreciated by future generations.

There is another poem:

It is difficult to start a business and maintain it, and the wooden house is stained with blood and tears; a page of bitter history from that year is left for future generations to look at.

From the 1870s to the 1970s, a full hundred years passed. The history of our compatriots living in the United States during this century is a story of being discriminated against. to a history that is valued. It is another history of struggle and victory.

(Contributed by the Guangzhou Counselor’s Office)

Before the closure of the Angel Island Immigration Station in 1940, the United States was most cruel to our compatriots entering the country. Therefore, people who had been imprisoned here at that time considered it the most shameful thing in their lives and wanted to forget these painful experiences, let alone talk about these past events with others. By the third and fourth generations, they are even less aware that their ancestors once shed bitter tears on Angel Island. Immigrants from other Asian countries also have similar situations. Later, most of Angel Island has been opened as a state park. Every weekend, it is crowded with tourists. Tourist ferries are full of tourists heading to Angel Island. Only the former site of the immigration station where immigrants were detained has been designated as a separate area. Not open yet.

In 1970, Alexander Weisz, who had just been assigned to Angel Island as a garden administrator, was inspecting a dilapidated barracks (formerly House No. 317) when he discovered that Thousands of Chinese characters were engraved on the wall, and the situation was personally conveyed to George Araki, a biology professor at San Francisco State College. Dr. Araki’s mother also entered the country via Angel Island, so Araki took his family and his photography friend Mark Takahashi to Angel Island and took photos of the writings on the walls. News of the writings on the walls of the Angel Island barracks spread to various universities. After the Department of Asian Studies, Asians organized groups to go to Angel Island to investigate the overall situation of the immigration station.

In the fall of 1974, a legislative group composed of Asians began drafting a proposal to repair the Angel Island barracks.

In order to preserve this historical relic, after various efforts, the state court finally approved the allocation of $250,000 in 1976 to cover the cost of preserving the remains of the Angel Island Immigration Detention Center. The "Angel Island Immigration Bureau Advisory Committee" was also organized to collect and preserve relevant historical materials. More than 100 Chinese poems recorded by overseas Chinese history researchers were collected into the "Angel Island Poetry Collection" and the compilation process began.

At noon on April 28, 1979, the unveiling memorial ceremony of the Angel Island Asian Immigration Monument was solemnly held.

U.S. President Carter sent New York lawyer Deguang Liu to congratulate the representative and read out the announcement of Asia-Pacific Heritage Week at the conference.

More than 800 Asians (most of them Chinese) participated in this historic ceremony.

The monument is built of black granite stone weighing 6,000 pounds. The granite stele was donated by Victor Berger, an American friend to China. The monument is engraved with commemorative couplets:

Leaving his hometown and living in a wooden house, he started his own business in Kinmen.

The inscription was written by Mr. Chen Axiang, and was selected from 68 submissions under the sponsorship of "Jinshan Times". It was written by Mr. Yu Bing, a calligrapher, and then engraved on the stele with exquisite craftsmanship. .

During the unveiling ceremony of the monument, two old overseas Chinese who had been detained or imprisoned on Angel Island - 88-year-old Mr. Wang Huajin and 83-year-old Mrs. Zhao Pan. The stone tablet is unveiled. Today, the Angel Island Immigration Station has become a key preserved historical relic. After processing and repairs, it remains in its original state for people to pay homage to.

Since Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the U.S. government was forced to declare war against Japan. At this time, China, the United States, the Soviet Union, and the United Kingdom had become a major alliance against the axis of Germany, Italy, and Japan. By 1945, when Japan finally announced its unconditional surrender, China was already in the position of a victorious nation in the international arena.

After the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949, although it was unreasonably excluded from the United Nations for a period of time, its international influence and prestige have grown day by day. It is recognized by people all over the world that any international affairs cannot be comprehensively and thoroughly resolved without the participation of the People's Republic of China. All of this adds luster to the reputation of all overseas Chinese. The social status of overseas Chinese in their host countries is completely different from before. In the past, overseas Chinese generally had a sense of inferiority, which has now turned into a sense of pride. Since my country's legal status in the United Nations was restored in 1973, our compatriots living abroad have been more directly cared for by the motherland. The social status of our compatriots living abroad in the United States has been further improved as the motherland's international prestige has increased. The treatment they received also gradually improved.

Since US President Richard Nixon visited my country in 1972 and signed the "Shanghai Communique", our overseas Chinese in the United States have become more respected by friendly people in the United States.

The Chinese national custom has always attached great importance to the "Spring Festival", but it has no response in American society. Since the Spring Festival of 1978, President Carter of the United States has sent special holiday messages to overseas Chinese and Chinese Americans in the United States for the Chinese New Year. In the congratulatory message, he spoke highly of the efforts and contributions made by overseas Chinese and Chinese Americans to the social prosperity and scientific progress of the United States. This fully reflects the changes in the US government's China policy. In recent years, in American society, whenever China's "Spring Festival" comes, you can also see a large sign or wooden frame specially placed in front of many American stores with the words "Congratulations! Congratulations!" written on it in large Chinese characters. . Not only has this never happened before in American society, but it has also never happened in any other country with expats in the United States.

After my country’s Vice Premier Deng Xiaoping visited the United States in 1979, the two countries officially resumed normal relations. Now our compatriots traveling to the United States can fully follow diplomatic channels and procedures of equality and reciprocity, and receive legal protection and respect. Overseas Chinese and overseas Chinese in our country can apply in accordance with their rights under the immigration laws promulgated by the United States. Once applicants obtain approval for exit and entry from both countries, they can directly come to the United States to settle or travel with a certificate. When entering the United States in the past, All the hardships and abuses he suffered are gone forever. The site of the Angel Island Immigration Station decades ago has now been erected with a towering monument and has become a place for people to remember and visit.

One day at lunch, because the meal was thicker and smellier than usual, the leader of the "Self-Government Association" seized this opportunity and issued a secret signal. All the compatriots present, after sufficient preparation in advance, had already With mental preparation, they all took action together, using bowls, plates, knives, forks, javelins, etc. as bullets and shells, and threw them at the US Immigration Bureau guards, leaving the guards at the scene helpless and panicked. escape. It fully demonstrates the heroic spirit and power of my compatriots in resisting abuse.

The US Immigration Director was forced to invite the elected representatives of our compatriots to sit down for negotiations the next day. After my representative was elected by all the interned compatriots, he immediately negotiated directly with the US Immigration Director. During the negotiation, the representatives eliminated all kinds of coercion and inducements. After face-to-face reasoning and arguments, the US Immigration Director finally had to accept everything. My compatriots have made four demands in advance:

1. Don’t eat smelly rice and horse meat; 2. Increase the amount of food; 3. The tableware should be clean; 4. The activity venue should be opened three times a day. Three hours later.

Another major victory against abuse.

According to the memories of those who were personally involved in the incident at the time: The original plan was to use violent actions to obtain negotiations, and then negotiate openly to force the other party to accept my reasonable demands. At the same time, we also made plans in case the situation worsened. In advance, the organizers and commanders voluntarily signed up and prepared a list of four people to be imprisoned to avoid everyone being affected. As a result, the struggle was completely successful.

The struggle against abuse at the Angel Island Immigration Station has developed from a spontaneous action of the masses to an organized and planned conscious action; in the struggle, the incomparable wisdom and resolute and brave spirit of my compatriots have been more fully demonstrated. .

In addition, the resistance of our compatriots to various unreasonable treatments by the US immigration authorities is also reflected in the parties or their relatives and friends using US laws to appeal to the US federal government, or to win support from people who are friendly to us. Sympathy, cooperation with the support of public opinion, etc., to carry out various struggles.

When some people were sentenced to deportation and waiting for the ship to return home, they wrote sad and angry poems to bid farewell to their fellow prisoners. One of the poems in the picture is the original poem handwritten on the wall and preserved. , at the end of this poem, they earnestly remind their companions not to think that everything in the Western world is beautiful, but to see its dark "cage-like" essence from its prosperous appearance. These historical relics provide reliable evidence for the historical facts of the mistreatment of our compatriots in the United States in the past.

The original text of the poem is as follows:

"I was detained in the wooden house for dozens of days, and I was implicated because of the ink rules.

It's a pity that heroes don't use force, they only listen to the voice to make decisions. Ancestral whip.

From now on, I am far away from this building. All the fellow villagers are here to celebrate.

Don’t forget that they are all Western-style, built with jade bricks that look like cages.

”

Due to the development of our country’s people’s democratic revolution, especially the Anti-Japanese War and the world’s anti-fascist struggle, forcing changes in U.S. immigration policy, the Angel Island Immigration Station was closed in 1940. From 1910 It has lasted for thirty years since its establishment in 2011.

3. The heroic resistance of the compatriots on Angel Island

Wherever there is oppression, there will be resistance. This is an objective law. . The U.S. immigration authorities arbitrarily conduct various harsh interrogations on Chinese immigrants, so our compatriots who enter the country have to prepare answers in advance or write down notes to facilitate their memory. However, the U.S. immigration authorities also stipulate that "anyone who is given this note will be deemed as a person." "Anyone who brings illegal documents" must be immediately deported back to the country. Such harsh regulations are really unbearable. One day, my fellow compatriots were eating in the canteen, and one of the women dropped a piece of paper from her body. The woman immediately picked it up. However, a female administrator at the U.S. Immigration Station saw her and snatched the note away from the Chinese woman. She wanted to report it to the U.S. immigration authorities immediately, but the Chinese woman begged her to return the note. Without the permission of the female administrator, some male compatriots who had not yet left the dining hall could only cry bitterly. Seeing this situation, they knew that the US government was looking for any excuse to prevent the Chinese from entering. If the note was reported, the woman would be punished. I was about to be deported, so I stepped forward to help negotiate with the female administrator to retrieve the note, but was unreasonably rejected. This aroused the public outrage of my compatriots present. They surrounded the female administrator, and one person took the note from her hand. He took it back, then tore up the note and put it into his mouth and swallowed it. After the heroic resistance of my compatriots, the US immigration authorities finally had no choice but to brag in the newspaper that "the Chinese riots were suppressed by the military and police." , in order to save face and further stir up anti-Chinese sentiment in society.

According to Ms. Mary Youngley’s experience of being imprisoned in Angel Island for fifteen months: “Her mother, Shirley Huang, was originally in the United States. The United States has obtained the right to enter and reside in the United States. Later, because he returned to his motherland to visit relatives, he returned to the United States again on January 15, 1924, and was detained at the Angel Island Immigration Station. Immigration officials insisted that my mother had liver worms and wanted to deport her. Later, my family asked a lawyer to appeal to the federal court. It was not until June 1925, after being detained for fifteen months, that I got rid of the miserable life on Angel Island and regained my original rights of entry and residence. ”

The interrogation of immigrants at the Angel Island Immigration Station is conducted by one interrogator, one translator, and one reporter. An interrogation for each immigrant usually takes more than two hours, and each time Write down a detailed record. The interrogating officer aims to find faults in the interrogation records for extortion purposes, or to use them as a reason for inadmissibility or deportation. After he came out, he asked his son again and looked for flaws in the confessions of the two. Therefore, the content of their interrogation was rambling, harsh, and even deliberately teasing, to accuse the interrogator of being dishonest. Materials provided by Li Aila (transliteration), who has been an interpreter for eight years, said: “When the interrogator interrogates immigrants, he will ask who lives on the left? Who lives on the right? Is there a cat next door? Is the cat black or white? Who are the teachers at the school and how many students are there in the school? Where is the school? Is there a fish pond in front of the ancestral hall? When are you going to visit the grave? How many people went to visit the grave together? Who will go to visit the grave together? The son's answers must be matched sentence by sentence with his father's answers. Later, the interpreter, Mr. Li Aila, resigned angrily because he could not stand the harsh interrogation.

Many compatriots who traveled long distances and went through untold hardships to find relatives and friends, Because they couldn't stand this kind of deliberately difficult and harsh interrogation, or because they had a blurred memory or were overly tired and nervous, they gave wrong answers, so they were given the arbitrary and unreasonable sentence of being "deported back to the country."

According to information provided by Charlie Yang (transliteration), who worked as an interpreter from 1926 to 1930: "The interned people were not allowed to receive visitors for fear that they would get information from the outside and help them. Respond to cross-examination. Sometimes a father can only see his son once he learns that he has been transferred back to his country. When father and son see each other, they can only cry like hell. ”

The above-mentioned situation of overseas Chinese being squeezed out and discriminated against did not end because our overseas Chinese compatriots swallowed their anger. On the contrary, the suffering of our compatriots in the United States is in the ascendant, and the blood and tears that are more bitter than in the past will further remain. In the Angel Island Immigration Station described below

2. Angel Island, a Hell on Earth

Angel Island is located about three miles north of San Francisco. At the beginning of this century, it was still. An unexplored desert island. At that time, the U.S. government decided that the immigration detention center on the west coast of the United States was originally located in a red brick building on MONKIMELLY Street in San Francisco (San Francisco) after the 1905 San Francisco earthquake. The building was destroyed in the earthquake, and a wooden house located near the cruise ship dock in San Francisco was temporarily used as a checkpoint. The above location is connected to the land, and immigrants can easily be cared for by relatives and friends on the shore, or get the convenience of other white people coming to vouch for it. , which was incompatible with the harsh restrictions on immigration imposed by the then vicious anti-Chinese policy. Therefore, the US government at that time had already deliberately selected an isolated island isolated from the outside world as the island. A concentration camp where incoming Asian immigrants were strictly prohibited.

Construction started in 1905 and was officially put into use in 1910. At the same time, the old wooden immigration station temporarily located near the cruise terminal was demolished.

This immigration detention center, known as "Ellis Island of the West", housed more than one million immigrants from Asia in the thirty years from 1910 to 1940. Immigrants are imprisoned here. Among them, there are more than 200,000 compatriots from our country. They were treated inhumanely on this isolated island. However, the degree of abuse was slightly different, with Filipinos receiving the lighter treatment and Chinese receiving the worst treatment. This is closely related to the Chinese Exclusion Acts enacted by the U.S. government successively since 1882 specifically to treat Chinese expatriates. and impact.

Since the establishment of the Angel Island Immigration Station in the United States in 1910, every time a ship docks in San Francisco, all inbound Asian immigrants on the ship must first be transferred to a designated ferry (i.e. Barges) were all driven to this isolated island, and then imprisoned in a wooden building. Men and women lived in separate rooms, and iron locks were placed outside the doors to implement strict confinement. The yard next to the house is also surrounded by an insurmountable barbed wire fence. All windows and corridors that can lead to the outside of the house are blocked with barbed wire. They are often guarded and monitored, which is no different from detaining prisoners. The prison building was densely packed with three- or four-story bunk beds. The air inside the house is turbid, the light is dark, and the sanitary conditions are extremely poor. Not only were the people imprisoned inside unbearable, but even the people watching could not stand it. Even the wife of U.S. immigration officer Edward W. W. Cable couldn't hide her conscience and said: "Place the people." It’s so cruel in a place like this.” The food here often causes the inmates to vomit.

My compatriots who have entered the country are imprisoned here and live an inhuman life. It is not just three days or five days, but a few weeks or months at the shortest, and some as long as three years.

In June 1911, some prominent figures in San Francisco inspected the immigration station and issued a report in Washington, saying that improvements were needed. In 1922, Immigration Commissioner W.W. Husband admitted: "The conditions at Angel Island are the worst of all the immigration stations I have ever seen."

U.S. government personnel The interrogation of immigrants entering the United States has long been a legal requirement, even before the Chinese Exclusion Act was established by the U.S. government. Whether they are students, teachers, businessmen returning to the United States again, or the spouses and children of workers, as soon as they set foot in the United States, they must be examined in San Francisco. The "Immigration Station" in a red brick building on MONKIMELLY Street in the city was questioned and inspected. After the 1905 San Francisco earthquake, the immigration checkpoint was set up near the Pacific Mail Ship Terminal on the waterfront of San Francisco. This dilapidated wooden house became the palace of hell for cruelly torturing Chinese immigrants.

In 1880, the U.S. government made changes to the original laws aimed at restricting the entry of Chinese immigrants. Even some of the rights originally granted to Chinese workers were deprived of them.