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House Approves Legislation to Save Historic Angel Island Site

May 23, 2005

House Approves Legislation to Save Historic Angel Island Site

Washington, D.C. - The U.S. House of Representatives unanimously approved Representative Lynn Woolsey?s (D-Petaluma) legislation, H.R. 606, to preserve and restore the Angel Island Immigration Station in the San Francisco Bay. Under Woolsey?s leadership, the legislation received the support of both chambers of Congress and bipartisan support in the U.S. House of Representatives. Democratic House Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-San Francisco), House Resources Committee member Representative Mark Souder (R-IN) and 32 other Members of Congress supported the bill in the U.S. House. Senator Feinstein (D-CA) introduced companion legislation in the U.S. Senate with Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA), Daniel Akaka (D-HI) and Daniel Inouye (D-HI) as cosponsors.

?The completion of the Angel Island Immigration Station project will preserve an important chapter of our nation?s rich and complex immigration history,? said Rep. Lynn Woolsey. ?In particular, the Station is a significant historical landmark because it teaches visitors about the Chinese-American experience.?

"The stories of immigrants are woven throughout the history of our nation," said Pelosi. "For many immigrants, release from the Angel Island Immigration Station meant that they had taken a significant step toward a new life in the United States. Understanding our past is key to our nation?s success and strength, today and in the future. Preserving Angel Island ensures that the collective voices of past immigrants live on in the proud immigrant heritage we all share. I commend Congresswoman Woolsey for her leadership."

?Today, we took an important step toward acknowledging the importance of this nation?s ?western Ellis Island,?? said Souder. ?Angel Island?s historical and cultural significance demands that we properly recognize this threshold of America and preserve it for generations to follow. The current state of the island's structures is simply not sustainable.?

Woolsey shepherded the legislation through passage in the U.S. House of Representatives during the 108th Congress, but the bill was not taken up in the U.S. Senate before the 108th adjourned. Said Woolsey, ?starting off the 109th Congress with identical bills in both chambers of Congress provided the momentum necessary for passage of the ?Angel Island Immigration Station Preservation and Restoration Act? in the U.S. House of Representatives. The U.S. Senate has already conducting hearings on the bill, and now we look to them to pass this legislation that is vital to the project?s completion by making the site eligible to receive federal funds while preserving Angel Island?s status as a California State Park.?

The bill will authorize $15 million of federal funds for the Angel Island Immigration Station preservation project and, new in the 109th Congress version of the bill, is a 50/50 match requirement of state and private funding for the project.

Current estimates to restore and preserve the Angel Island Immigration Station total over $30 million. To date, the Immigration Station has secured $16 million for the preservation efforts from private foundations, federal and state government sources. However, because the Immigration Station is located in a California State Park, without the Woolsey/Feinstein legislation it is unable to receive additional federal dollars beyond the grants for which it has already qualified.

The Angel Island Immigration Station was the entry point for over 1 million immigrants from 1910-1940, including approximately 175,000 Chinese immigrants who were forced to stay at Angel Island before entry to San Francisco -- or return to China. According to the Angel Island Immigration Foundation, ?the average detention was two to three weeks, but many stayed for several months and a few were forced to remain on the island for nearly two years.? During their detention many of the Chinese immigrants carved poetry on the walls of the station. Today, about 140 of the poems remain on the walls of the detention barracks, as a testament to their experience.

In 1997, the Angel Island Immigration Station was designated as a National Historic Landmark and in 2000, it was placed on ?America?s 11 Most Endangered Historic Places? list, becoming an official project of Save America?s Treasures, a joint program of the National Trust for Historic Preservation and the White House Millennium Council. More than 50,000 people, including 3,000 school children, make the trip out to the site each year to learn about its rich history.

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