Question

Read each statement and decide whether it applies to Ellis Island, Angel Island, or both:

Answer 1

1. Most immigrants were from China or another Asian nation. This only applies to Angel Island in San Francisco Bay which makes sense due to the geographic convenience in an era of boat transportation. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese and other Asians (and some Mexicans) were processed here.

2. Immigrants had to pass health inspections before being admitted to the United States. This applies to both places. They both had hospital facilities for the medical examination and quarantine of sick or disabled immigrants.

3. Immigrants could be denied entry or sent back to their home countries. This applies to both of them but differently. Only 3% of immigrants arriving at Ellis Island were denied entry and deported while 18% of those who arrived at Angel Island were deported back to Asia (mainly China).

Answer 2

Most immigrants were from China or another Asian nation.

This statement applies to Angel Island.

Angel Island Immigration Station was located in San Francisco and operated between 1910-1940. It was sometimes called 'Ellis Island of the West' but the main difference between those two was that the majority of immigrants processed at Angel Island were from  China and other Asian nations such as Japan and India.

Immigrants had to pass health inspections.

This statements applies to both.

At both stations the arriving immigrants had to pass a medical exam which was invasive sometimes. The south of Ellis Island featured a public health hospital where about 10% of immigrants would go for further medical inspections. 355 babies were born there. The same medical examination was taken at Angel Island, many Chinese immigrants complained that the extensive physical examinations violated their cultural norms. Infectious disease were most looked for in immigrants.

Immigrants could be denied entry.

This statement applies to both.

At Ellis Island, only between 1 to 3 % of all arriving immigrants were rejected entry to the United States, at Angel Island the number was around 18%. The Chinese were especially targeted because they were seen as a threat to the economy. They occupied low-wage jobs and the the number of immigrants from China was large.