 From 1910 to 1940, Chinese immigrants were detained at the Angel Island immigration station in the San Francisco Bay.To be permitted entry to the United States, thousands of mostly Chinese immigrants crossing the Pacific to San Francisco had to enter through the gauntlet of Angel Island, and were detained for months in a purgatory of isolation.Some spent years on the island waiting for entry to the U.S.The exclusion act was repealed during World War II under the Magnuson Act, in recognition of the important role of China as an ally in the war, although tight quotas still applied.