It’s not often I can cite a WSJ story as something that warms my heart, but this qualifies:
One frigid March morning last year, federal agents raided a factory in this old whaling town, arresting hundreds of illegal immigrants as they sewed vests and backpacks for U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Most were shackled and sent to a detention center in Texas, where they faced rapid deportation unless they could post thousands of dollars in bail — money they didn’t have — to buy time to mount a defense.
Then, a mystery benefactor appeared. The anonymous donor ponied up more than $200,000 to spring 40 people from detention.
The payments, which until now haven’t become public despite extensive news coverage of the raid itself, came from Bob Hildreth, a Boston financier who made his millions trading Latin American debt. He was “infuriated” at the televised images of workers being shipped to Texas, he says. Helping them make bail is “payback.”
The raid broke families apart,” says the diminutive 57-year-old, who once taught high-school history. “This was extremely un-American.”
It’s not just the outlay of money. It’s the outlay of money for a cause that will almost certainly bring this man only grief amongst his peers. And the benefit will only ever be really appreciated by the families he kept together.  Another part of what I admire about his action is the expression of faith in the basic decency of these people – that they would not run off (and thus leave him out of the bail money). And so far, it looks like that faith was well placed – none of the recipients of his aid have skipped out on bail.