By the time they finish the concluding capsule history of US immigration policy’s structural racism, many readers will agree with him. A powerful, cogent indictment.”
—Kirkus Reviews
“Humanizing Immigration is a stirring call to action, urging readers to act from a place of empathy, not fear.”
—Booklist
“Incisive and compelling, reflecting the painful wisdom and knowledge that Bill Ong Hing has accrued over the course of fifty years representing noncitizens ensnared by our profoundly cruel and unjust immigration system.”
—Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow
“Humanizing Immigration is a passionate, clear-eyed, and necessary call for restoring justice and humanity in America’s broken and corrupt immigration system, which has punished and criminalized communities simply seeking a chance to participate in the elusive American dream. Professor Hing uses his lifetime of experience to make a compelling and persuasive case to abolish ICE and to inspire political leaders and organizers to disrupt and reform laws and policies to uplift, instead of demonize, those of us who come from the ‘sh*thole countries.’”
—Wajahat Ali, author of Go Back to Where You Came From
“For anyone who has wondered whether or why we should abolish ICE, this book is a must-read. Long-time immigration lawyer and activist Bill Ong Hing clearly lays out how racism, over-policing, over-enforcement, and the cruel absurdities of immigration law lead to wholly unnecessary human tragedies. With his deep knowledge of the intricacies of the law and its implementation, Hing proposes practical steps toward mitigating the worst of ICE abuses while also making a powerful case for the larger goal of abolition and imagining what a just immigration system could look like.”
—Aviva Chomsky, author of Undocumented: How Immigration Became Illegal
“Once again, Bill Ong Hing has delivered an insightful and damning critique of the US immigration regime, making clear that deep histories of racialized exclusion continue to ensnare law and life in the United States. Woven together with stories from his frontline work as an attorney, this book is a call to action for meaningful immigration reform.”
—Kelly Lytle Hernández, author of Bad Mexicans: Race, Empire, and Revolution in the Borderlands
“An essential read. Bill Ong Hing expertly dissects America’s broken immigration system with authority and aplomb. I trust few people more than him to drive discourse and action around immigrants.”
—Jose Antonio Vargas, author of Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen
“Humanizing Immigration uniquely combines a deep analysis of the structural conditions underlying U.S. immigration policy with sensitively-written stories about the lives of those impacted, making this book a treasure for all who care about justice inside schools and beyond."
—Dr. Susan R. Katz, Professor Emerita, International & Multicultural Education, University of San Francisco
"[Hing] offers a blueprint for a different kind of legal engagement in pursuit of abolition and accountability, including the need to creatively collaborate with those outside the law...his book is a call for everyone, including artists and other cultural producers who are resolutely engaged in the work of disrupting multiple systems of oppression and re-imagining justice and a better, different kind of future for everyone."
—Dr. Susette S. Min, Ethnic Studies Professor, UC Davis
“Drawing from decades of experience as an immigration lawyer and legal scholar, Professor Bill Hing provides a compelling abolitionist perspective on the system of U.S. immigration law and its institutional apparatus. With great expertise and eloquence, Hing skillfully shows that reforms in the name of equality and fairness do little to remedy a legal system of punitive governance that is fundamentally rooted in racism and dehumanization."
—Dr. Richard S. Kim, Professor, Asian American Studies, UC Davis
“[Humanizing Immigration] will be a key resource for anyone teaching or researching the politics of immigration in order to advance just solutions for one of the key social and political challenges facing the U.S. today."
—Dr. Kathleen Coll, Professor of Politics, University of San Francisco
"This book reminds mental health practitioners that we must transform our racist and unjust immigration system to heal ourselves, others, and the land. Bill Hing helps us understand the ways in which the direct and structural violence that is perpetrated by immigration enforcement is standing in the way of our personal, interpersonal, and systemic transformation. This book is especially important for mental health practitioners working in the areas of immigration, racial, and intergenerational trauma."
—Dr. Daniela Dominquez, Professor, School of Education, University of San Francisco
“The field of Clinical Psychology should take note of Professor Hing’s incisive arguments and personal accounts of the negative impacts of structural violence from an unjust immigration system and the mental health sequelae that affects children, families, and communities."
—Dr. Dellanira Garcia, Professor, School of Nursing and Health Professions, University of San Francisco
“A first-hand account of racism and injustice within the US immigration system, based on fifty years of legal representation of non-citizens [that will] be of great interest to political geographers, geographers from other sub-fields working on migration, race and borders."
—Dr. Ilaria Giglioli, Professor, International Studies, University of San Francisco
★ 10/23/2023
Hing (immigration law, policy, and migration studies, Univ. of San Francisco; American Presidents, Deportation, and Human Rights Violations: From Carter to Trump) directs San Francisco's Immigration and Deportation Defense Clinic. His latest book is a groundbreaking title about the intersectionality between racial justice and immigrant rights in the United States. He closely examines the historical treatment of many undocumented people originally from Africa and Central America, and he utilizes his extensive knowledge to describe the legal problems they face as they get caught up in underfunded immigration courts, appeals offices, and detention centers. He documents the heart-wrenching firsthand accounts of many individuals and families of undocumented immigrants who have been working and contributing to the nation (whether via taxes or labor) but have fallen under the watchful eye of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. With the volatile political crises raging around the world and a looming climate catastrophe, many more individuals and families are currently or soon will be seeking political asylum in the U.S. VERDICT A timely title that humanizes immigration and offers readers a deep understanding of the processes involved in seeking asylum and fighting deportation. It also clearly and expertly shows how specific enforced laws contribute to institutional racism.—Amy Lewontin
2023-06-29
A professor of immigration law with five decades of experience offers some fixes for a broken system.
Arguing from the outset that U.S. immigration laws are fundamentally racist and unjust, Hing, the author of Deporting Our Souls and American Presidents, Deportations, and Human Rights Violations: From Carter to Trump, presents ample evidence of their sometimes Kafkaesque, frequently wantonly cruel applications. In service of his argument, he looks at five different types of immigration dysfunction, illustrating each with stories of individuals affected. He leads with the detention of minors at the southern border, plunging readers into the shocking conditions endured by children, some as young as toddlers, held for days in overcrowded rooms and given insufficient nutrition. He then turns to the deportation of permanent residents for aggravated felony convictions, a category of infractions that includes crimes U.S. citizens experience as misdemeanors; the inconsistency—all too often based in racism—of application of prosecutorial discretion; the difficulties faced by asylum seekers; and the general chaos of the immigration court system. Throughout, Hing writes with emotion but moves back and forth smoothly between human stories and legal ones, ensuring that lay readers have the context necessary to understand how the latter affect the former. Within each discussion of specific immigration topics, the author suggests concrete reforms, such as applying reasonable proportionality to the cases of noncitizens accused of crimes. He doesn’t stop there, however; his eyes are on a bigger prize: “I count myself among those who call for the abolition of the immigration system altogether. Migrants should have the right to free movement across borders and the right to live free of harassment over immigration status. Our system must be transformed into one that prioritizes our humanity first.” By the time they finish the concluding capsule history of U.S. immigration policy’s structural racism, many readers will agree with him.
A powerful, cogent indictment.
