We Built the Wall: How the US Keeps Out Asylum Seekers from Mexico, Central America and Beyond

(Hardback)

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Description

For decades, the American political asylum process has been used to punish enemies and reward friends of the US government. Refugees from Cuba can walk through an open door. People fleeing Eastern Europe have been judged very differently than those trying to escape persecution in friendly but deeply violent states like Mexico, El Salvador, Colombia and Honduras. From a storefront law office in the US border city of El Paso, Texas, one man set out to challenge that system. Carlos Specter has filed hundreds of political asylum cases on behalf of human rights defenders, journalists, and political dissidents, and though his legal activism has only inched the process forward98% of refugees from Mexico are still denied asylumhis myriad legal cases and the media fallout from them has increasingly put US immigration policy, the corrupt state of Mexico, and the political basis of immigration, asylum, and deportation decisionson the spot. We Built the Wall is an immersive, engrossing story of a new front in the immigration wars.

Reviews

Truax succeeds in conveying how a shadow status permeates the lives of all the young people profiled here, with education, employment opportunities, and essential social services severely limited or unavailable. (Praise for Dreamers) -- Publishers Weekly
A forthright, moving piece of advocacy journalism. (Praise for Dreamers) -- Kirkus Reviews
Compelling, honest, and personal, this is a must-read for anyone interested in the immigration debate (Praise for Dreamers). * Booklist *

Author Bio

Originally from Mexico, Eileen Truax is a journalist and immigrant currently living in Los Angeles. She contributes regularly to Hoy Los Angeles and Unidos and writes for Latin American publications including Proceso, El Universal, and Gatopardo. Truax often speaks at colleges and universities about the Dreamer movement and immigration. She is the author of Dreamers: An Immigrant Generation's Fight for Their American Dream.