Angel Island was an island off the coast of California. On this island was a facility that was designed to control immigrants from Asia and others coming into the country from the west. It was often referred to as the “Ellis Island of the West” and was basically the same although it was built mainly as a detention center because of the Chinese Exclusion Act. People would go to another nearby island and take a ferry here then climb a steep cliff to the Facility where they would be told where to go.People who came to the island often had to wait years on the island until they were able to enter the country. They lived in poorly designed cottages on the island and were able to do some work on the island to support their families. Many people were coming over to the U.S. for gold and for jobs. This made them prime targets for cheap labor on the railroads and many other large companies.Shortly before WW2 the island was no longer needed for its purpose and was abandoned only to be taken by the army and turned into a military base. It was a perfect place for it because of the large detention barracks for the immigrants which were then turned into a POW processing center.After the war the site was again abandoned until it was turned into a museum similar to Ellis Island. The two were different however because people who went through Angel Island are not able to access immigration records at the site. All the buildings are still intact today and messages can be seen scratched into the detention barracks from the POWs being held there.People would arrive here
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