A rare look at the brute-force mechanics of deportation in the United States.
In December 2017, U.S. immigration authorities shackled and abused 92 African refugees for two days while attempting to deport them by plane to Somalia. When national media broke the story, government officials lied about what happened. Shackled tells the story of this harrowing failed deportation, the resulting class action litigation, and two men's search for safety in the United States over the course of three long years.
Through Abdulahi's and Sa'id's firsthand accounts, immigration lawyer Rebecca A. Sharpless brings to life the harsh consequences of the U.S. deportation system and how racism and anti-Blackness operate within it. Sharpless follows the money that ICE funnels into local jails, private contractors, and charter jets, exposing a sprawling system of immigration enforcement that detains and abuses noncitizens at scale. Woven with the wider context of Abdulahi's and Sa'id's stories, this immigration odyssey reveals disturbing truths about Somalia, asylum, and the U.S. court system. Shackled will galvanize readers—attorneys, activists, policymakers, and scholars alike—to call out and dismantle this brutal infrastructure.
Rebecca A. Sharpless is an immigration lawyer and professor at the University of Miami School of Law, where she directs the immigration clinic.
"Rebecca Sharpless provides a compelling and disturbing account of a shameful episode in U.S. asylum policy. It is a somber reminder that deportation is too often an act of violence, in which shackling is used both as a punishing means of physical restraint and as a tool for breaking the human spirit."—T. Alexander Aleinikoff, Director of the Zolberg Institute on Migration and Mobility at The New School and former UN Deputy High Commissioner for Refugees
"I feel honored to have been invited into Abdulahi's and Sa'id's lives and to have learned about their struggles from an author who very evidently cares deeply about both of them. This book is heartbreaking. Using a lawyerly eye for detail and writing that is beautiful and deeply human, Sharpless delivers an incisive account of all that is wrong with the U.S. deportation system today."—William D. Lopez, author of Separated: Family and Community in the Aftermath of an Immigration Raid
"Shackled shows us a side of immigration crackdowns that even most immigration lawyers don't usually see: how deportation actually happens. It's an engaging, absurd, around-the-world journey of cruelty and resilience."—Michael Kagan, author of The Battle to Stay in America
"Shackled highlights the anti-Blackness baked into our immigration, deportation, and detention system. Abdulahi and Sa'id—through their exquisitely rendered firsthand accounts—speak truth to power. Our immigration authorities should listen."—Marleine Bastien, Miami-Dade County Commissioner and Executive Director of Family Action Network Movement
"This extraordinary work reads like a thriller and showcases how the horrors of our broken immigration system are driven by simple greed. This book may break your heart, but it will open your mind. Read it, and then demand that Congress reform this inhumane, horrifically expensive, and demonstrably ineffective system."—Roxana Bacon, former Chief Counsel, U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services
"This gripping book paints an unsparing picture of the brutal human toll of the U.S. detention and deportation machine and connects the violent realities of systemic racism suffered by asylum seekers today to our nation's history of slavery and oppression. It should be required reading for all Americans."—Jaya Ramji-Nogales, coauthor of Refugee Roulette, Lives in the Balance, and The End of Asylum
"Shackled unveils ICE's shadowy world, giving readers unique insight into both the inhumane removal process and the grueling work required to obtain even a modicum of justice for those in desperate need of protection. Sharpless's meticulously detailed account of the harm they face is a must-read at a time when the basic rights of asylum seekers—especially those of color—are seriously eroding and calls to close our borders are louder than ever."—Cheryl Little, Cofounder and former Executive Director, Americans for Immigrant Justice
232 pp.6 x 9Illus: 7 b/w figures, 3 maps
9780520390942$85.00|£71.00Hardcover
Jan 2024