Women and children held in a detention pen with a social worker at Angel Island Immigration Station, San Francisco, early 20th century
Courtesy U.S. National Library of Medicine
Angel Island was the West Coast counterpart to Ellis Island, but it was dedicated to restricting rather than welcoming immigrants. Following the Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882, Asian immigrants had to prove family connections to enter the United States, and all Asians trying to enter through Angel Island were subject to weeks of detention, questioning, inspections, and quarantine (in contrast to days or hours at Ellis Island).
