Angel Island Research Paper

564 Words3 Pages
Angel Island also known as the Western Gate was the Key of Entry to California during the nineteen hundreds. The Island rapidly became popular and soon after it was put into use, nineteen thousand Chinese immigrants had been processed. Angel Island served as an immigration station in order to protect California from illegal immigrants and make immigration safer and easier. But what seemed like a dream to some immigrants soon became a nightmare when they reached Angel Island. Angel Island proves to be a good choice to put an immigration station. Construction on Angel Island began in 1905 and ended in 1910. The main use of the island was to enforce the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. An abundant amount of Chinese wanted to come to California for gold and to start a new life. This is exactly why Angel Island was chosen to be an immigration station since it was off the Pacific ocean and it was right next to San Francisco, “the City of Gold” as they called it, Angel island was the perfect location. The main immigrants Angel island processed were one third European immigrants, one third Russian immigrants and one third asian immigrants. But at times it was mostly Chinese immigrants. And the process of immigrating for Chinese immigrants proved to be less that delightful. The United States had built this station to make immigration easier and to keep the Chinese out. So Chinese immigrants were treated very poorly and harshly. Immigration officers would keep Chinese immigrants…show more content…
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