Mr. President. in 1882 our Nation passed the Chinese Exclusion Act. preventing the immigration of Chinesee citizens unless they were children of U.S. citizens. Regardless of that act. thousands of hopeful Chinese continued to seek entry into the United States. From 1910 to 1940 about 175.000 Chineserelatives or supposed relatives of American citizenswere processed at Angel Island in the San Francisco Bay. Angel Island became the west coasts Ellis Island A frame building still stands on Angel Island. That building served as a detention barracks for the thousands of Chinese arriving each year. Our harsh immigration policies caused some of them to wait as long as 2 years to learn if they were to be admitted to the United States or sent back to China. The confusion. despair and hope of those people were expressed in poems that were carved on the walls of the barracks. That building is now being restored as a part of Angel Island State Park and will serve as a museum. We must not allow ourselves to forget how easy it can be for a nation to adopt immigration policies based solely on racism. the museum will serve as an important reminder for us. and for future generations. The Los Angeles Times published an article by Sam Hall Kaplan about Angel Island on November 22. and I recommend it to my colleagues. I ask unanimous consent that the article be printed in the RECORD.
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Chinese Exclusion immigration