Ellis Island was a Detention Center for Radicals
After World War I, the United States entered a period of “Red Scare.” People suspected of supporting communism and Bolshevism were treated with suspicion. Labor unrest and unionization swept through immigrant-dominated jobs like mining, metal production, meatpacking, and other manufacturers. A bomb targeting Attorney General Mitchell Palmer in 1919 (but killing only the bomber) prompted the United States to round up and deport “alien reds” without a warrant. There were raids of union halls and other meeting spaces. Ellis Island was the holding point for the deportees. When Howe was the Commissioner, the City of New York rounded up 697 people, but only deported 60. But when Howe left, Acting Commissioner Byron Uhl increased the number of deportations. This image shows anarchists, Communists, and other political radicals rounded up in New York City, Newark, and other nearby raids in 1920, detaining them at Ellis Island during deportation proceedings.