Speech #1050144225

First. last Saturday. a ceremony celebrating the designation of Angel Island as a National Historic Landmark was held in San Francisco. Located in San Francisco Bay. Angel Island Immigration Station served as an immigration processing station for many West Coast immigrants between 1910 and 1940. Most of the immigrants entering through Angel Island were Chinese. but a sizable portion of the immigrants came from Japan. the Philippines. and Europe as well. However. the Chinese experience was vastly different from that of other immigrants. regardless of which port of entry they entered through. Subject to a series of Chinese exclusion laws beginning in 1882. Chinese immigrants could only enter the United States under the "exempt class." Instead of a welcoming atmosphere. these Chinese were subjected to days. weeks. months. and even years of hostile interrogation before being admitted to the U.S. or being deported back to China. They languished in prisonlike conditions at Angel Island until decisions were handed down. In contrast. processing at Ellis Island took an immigrant. on average. three to five hours. Angel Island Immigration Station closed in 1940 after processing over 175.000 Chinese immigrants. In 1970. a state park ranger discovered scores of poems beautifully carved into the wooden walls of the detention barracks. evidently composed by its onetime Chinese and Japanese residents. In one poem. a prospective Chinese immigrant wrote: Every one says traveling to North America is a pleasure. I suffered misery on the ship and sadness in the wooden building. After several interrogations. still I am not done.