The Fight Over Chinese Immigration
Tensions mount as authorities in Puget Sound and Portland scramble to manage the arrival of Chinese travelers and the enforcement of the Geary Act.
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A telegram from Vancouver, B.C., reports that the Empress of China has arrived with 600 Chinese passengers bound for Portland. The influx has created a crisis for regional transportation and customs officials, who are struggling to process the passengers. In Tacoma, Collector Wasson has refused to admit 214 Chinese actors who arrived on the steamer Victoria, demanding proof they are truly part of a World's Fair exhibit. If evidence is not produced, they face deportation. Meanwhile, there is widespread confusion and resistance regarding the Geary Act; officials admit that registration requirements are being largely ignored by Chinese residents in Port Townsend, who are giving officers a wide berth. A Treasury Department official commented that the registration certificates might actually facilitate smuggling rather than control it, suggesting that the only way to keep the Chinese out is a permanent ban on reentry.
“These Geary certificates will be the means of allowing thousands of Chinamen to be smuggled into the country. Dozens of men can use one certificate.”
The Geary Act and the intense surveillance of Chinese immigrants in the 1890s marked a dark chapter of exclusionary policy. This reporting reflects the pervasive institutional racism of the time, documenting a period of systemic hostility toward Chinese communities in the Pacific Northwest.
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