“Aching Hearts of Mothers and Babes”, 1919

Our husbands were apprehended by agents of your Department and taken from their families without warning. In every instance these families depended upon the men for sustenance. The action of your Department imposes upon it the full responsibility for the misery inflicted upon us and our children, for the starvation to which so many have already been driven, for the aching hearts of mothers and babes driven from their beloved husbands and fathers—and supporters.

“Aching Hearts of Mothers and Babes” 1919

After the Palmer Raids, over 800 foreign citizens were deported, leaving their families destitute and alone. This letter was written by some of their wives who pled to be deported along with their husbands in order to keep their families intact.

National Archives, Records of the Immigration and Naturalization Service