Banned

Winner, 2020 Best Book Award, Law Category, given by the American Book FestExamines immigration enforcement and discretion during the first eighteen months of the Trump administrationWithin days of taking office, President Donald J. Trump published or announced changes to immigration law and policy. These changes have profoundly shaken the lives and well-being of immigrants and their families, many of whom have been here for decades, and affected the work of the attorneys and advocates who represent or are themselves part of the immigrant community. Banned examines the tool of discretion, or the choice a government has to protect, detain, or deport immigrants, and describes how the Trump administration has wielded this tool in creating and executing its immigration policy.Banned combines personal interviews, immigration law, policy analysis, and case studies to answer the following questions: (1) what does immigration enforcement and discretion look like in the time of Trump? (2) who is affected by changes to immigration enforcement and discretion?; (3) how have individuals and families affected by immigration enforcement under President Trump changed their own perceptions about the future?; and (4) how do those informed about immigration enforcement and discretion describe the current state of affairs and perceive the future? Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia pairs the contents of these interviews with a robust analysis of immigration enforcement and discretion during the first eighteen months of the Trump administration and offers recommendations for moving forward.The story of immigration and the role immigrants play in the United States is significant. The government has the tools to treat those seeking admission, refuge, or opportunity in the United States humanely. Banned offers a passionate reminder of the responsibility we all have to protect America’s identity as a nation of immigrants.

This meticulously argued work succeeds in illuminating with plain language what the immigration system obscures behind jargon and steel bars., Now more than ever we need experts such as Professor Shoba Wadhia to make sense of the senseless immigration policies put forth by the Trump administration. Banned combines thoughtful analysis of immigration law and policy with insightful case studies and interviews, culminating in a powerful reminder of the human toll taken on individuals and families caught in the crossfire of prejudice and fear. Banned is a clarion call to reassert humane immigration policy as a core American value., Banned is a significant witness to this unprecedented time in immigration policy., Banned presents a fascinating discussion of the significant immigration policy changes undertaken by the Trump administration, from the Muslim travel ban to asylum and detention issues. Having represented individuals subject to the travel ban, I have personally seen the tragedies caused by an inhumane and discriminatory policy. Shoba Wadhia shines a bright light on the depth of the drastic changes being made to a country founded by and for immigrants., Banned is a thoughtful look at the immigration initiatives of the Trump administration. Shoba Wadhia critically examines immigration enforcement and the exercise of discretion in immigration matters by the new administration . . . Banned is a definite “must read” for anyone interested in what perhaps has been one of the most rapid periods of change in immigration enforcement ever.

Shoba Sivaprasad Wadhia is the Samuel Weiss Faculty Scholar and Founding Director of the Center for Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Penn State Law in University Park, Pennsylvania, and author of Beyond Deportation.