Immigration Service officials followed the strict immigration laws and detained Chinese immigrants in order to question them, their alleged parents, witnesses, and other people who might provide evidence of their relationship to the American citizen. Immigration Service officials interrogated the newly arrived Chinese people and their sponsors in the United States at great length. They asked the immigrants to describe their parents, grandparents, and siblings. They asked specific detailed questions about their houses and villages in China. For example, they might ask the immigrant for the number of steps that led to the front door of his house in China. The Immigration Service reasoned that true relatives would give similar sets of answers to their questions.

Once the inspectors received enough details, they summoned the prospective immigrant's father or husband for interrogation. They asked the same questions to prove the relationship between the two people. If the answers given by both people matched, the Immigration Department certified the new arrival as being the son/daughter/wife of the U.S. citizen. Then they were allowed to land in the United States. If, however, the testimonies did not match, the new arrival would receive deportation orders to be sent back to China. If the immigrant chose to argue the decision, more interrogations would follow, and his case file would work its way up through the chain of command until he was either admitted or ordered to be deported.

The Chinese community developed "coaching papers" or "coaching letters" to help the Chinese people in the interrogation process. Coachng papers were small pieces of paper--a few to several inches long--that contained information about the hopeful immigrant's "family" in China. Coaching papers were usually given to prospective immigrants before they left for the United States. Even true relatives of Chinese in the United States used coaching papers because of the ridiculously detailed interrogation questions. The immigrants memorized the information on the papers during the sea voyage from China and sometimes destroy them by throwing them overboard as they neared their destinations. Coaching papers would get quite specific: "If the inspector asks you how far your village is from the Bamboo and tree, you answer 'I have no bamboo trees in my village, there [are] only bamboo and trees behind the hill of Jeung Bin village.' "(21) The end of this letter offers the following advice: "Be sure to study and memorize the above questions and answers right away. After you get through with them, don't forget to destroy this letter. I here with enclose . . . a photo of [your paper father]. Study his features and do not fail to recognize him."