The Slow Violence of Immigration Court - by Maya Pagni Barak (Paperback)

About the Book

"Grounded in the illuminating stories of immigrants facing deportation, the family members who support them, and the attorneys who defend them, this book invites readers to question matters of fairness and justice in immigration court and beyond"--

Book Synopsis

The arduous, confusing and fraught journey that immigrants take through immigration court

Each year, hundreds of thousands of migrants are moved through immigration court. With a national backlog surpassing one million cases, court hearings take years and most migrants will eventually be ordered deported. The Slow Violence of Immigration Court sheds light on the experiences of migrants from the "Northern Triangle" (Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador) as they navigate legal processes, deportation proceedings, immigration court, and the immigration system writ large.

Grounded in the illuminating stories of people facing deportation, the family members who support them, and the attorneys who defend them, The Slow Violence of Immigration Court invites readers to question matters of fairness and justice and the fear of living with the threat of deportation. Although the spectacle of violence created by family separation and deportation is perceived as extreme and unprecedented, these long legal proceedings are masked in the mundane and are often overlooked, ignored, and excused. In an urgent call to action, Maya Pagni Barak deftly demonstrates that deportation and family separation are not abhorrent anomalies, but are a routine, slow form of violence at the heart of the U.S. immigration system.

Review Quotes

"Barak draws a comprehensive and vivid portrayal of how the immigrants who are intimately connected to immigration courts see these courts and their place in them and their perceptions of the U.S. immigration system more generally."-- "Social Forces"

"Barak provides a much-needed disruption to dominant procedural justice scholarship by pushing it in a more holistic and intersectional direction...and her evocative writing forces both general and academic audiences to pull back the façade of procedural fairness and lay bare unjust laws and policies."-- "Law and Society"

"Barak's vision of what removal proceedings should look and feel like is reasonable and convincing, making The Slow Violence of Immigration Court a must-read book."-- "Theoretical Criminology"

"Well-written and cogently structured, this book deserves wide readership."-- "International Migration Review"

"Her focus is on the stories of people facing deportation, the family members who support them, and the attorneys who defend them. She concludes that deportation and family separation are not abhorrent anomalies, but are a routine, slow form of violence at the heart of the U.S. immigration system."-- "Law and Social Inquiry"

"Barak draws from interviews and ethnographic observations to make a cogent case that the immigration court system needs far more than procedural reforms; it requires a radical reimagining. This book will be especially useful in classes on immigration and procedural justice as Barak eloquently weaves heart-wrenching stories with clear explanations of our complex system of immigration laws and courts."-- "Tanya Maria Golash-Boza, author of Deported: Immigrant Policing, Disposable Labor, and Global Capitalism"

"Maya Pagni Barak demonstrates and argues convincingly that no amount of procedural justice reforms will protect non-citizen immigrant populations from the US deportation regime. The regime's tentacles run too deep in these targeted communities to formally ensure their social inclusion. An essential read for those who care about our democratic future."-- "David Brotherton, co-author of Banished to the Homeland: Dominican Deportees and Their Stories of Exile"

"Too often, those of us thinking about how to reform the immigration system get lost in the minutiae of procedural law. Barak re-centers us: through gripping personal stories and diligent research, Barak paints a picture of a system in a straitjacket, which, instead of responding to the human suffering it should address, is used as a means of social control of marginalized populations. This is an urgent reading for those who are thinking deeply about how to 'humanize' this broken system and those trying to help undocumented people navigate the current labyrinth."-- "Steven Dudley, author of MS-13: The Making of America's Most Notorious Gang"

About the Author

Maya Pagni Barak is Associate Professor of Criminology and Criminal Justice and an affiliate of Women's and Gender Studies ​at the University of Michigan-Dearborn. She is the author of The Slow Violence of Immigration Court: Procedural Justice on Trial