Declaration of Alien About to Depart for the United States
1/24/1918
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Emile and Rose Louis traveled to the United States but had no intention of staying here. The married couple, British citizens who worked as ship stewards, arrived in San Francisco from Hong Kong with their seven-week-old son in February 1918. They planned to travel through the United States to Vancouver, British Columbia, where they expected to find work. But immigration inspectors on Angel Island had several problems with landing them. Fifty-five-year-old Emile was deemed illiterate, and the entire family was judged to be without any means of financial support. They were “likely to become a public charge,” and Rose, despite her work history, was judged “entirely dependent” on Emile. The family spent the next six months on Angel Island, fighting deportation to Hong Kong. Rose wrote several letters pleading for permission to travel to Canada or for Emile to be permitted to go to San Francisco to find work on a foreign-bound ship. To be sent back to Hong Kong, where the couple would be forced to compete with low-paid Chinese laborers, “would mean starvation.” The Immigration Service finally ruled that the Louis family could pass through the United States, but only if Canadian authorities agreed to accept them. No such assurances ever came, and the family was deported back to Hong Kong in July 1918.
This primary source comes from the Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service.
National Archives Identifier: 6587589
Full Citation: Declaration of Alien About to Depart for the United States; 1/24/1918; Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service, Record Group 85. [Online Version, https://docsteach.org/documents/document/declaration-of-alien-about-to-depart-for-the-united-states, June 13, 2025]Rights: Public Domain, Free of Known Copyright Restrictions. Learn more on our privacy and legal page.
