Bans, Walls, Raids, Sanctuary - (American Studies Now: Critical Histories of the Present) by A Naomi Paik (Hardcover)

About the Book

"Just days after taking the White House, Donald Trump signed three executive orders targeting noncitizens-authorizing the Muslim Ban, the border wall, and ICE raids. The new administration's approach towards noncitizens was defined by bans, walls, and raids. This is the essential primer on how we got here, and what we must do to create a different future. Bans, Walls, Raids, Sanctuary shows that these features have a long history and have long harmed all of us and our relationships to each other. The 45th president's xenophobic, racist, ableist, patriarchal ascendancy is no aberration, but the consequence of two centuries of U.S. political, economic, and social culture. Further, as A. Naomi Paik deftly demonstrates, the attacks against migrants are tightly bound to assaults against women, people of color, workers, ill and disabled people, queer and gender non-conforming people. These attacks are neither un-American nor unique. By showing how the problems we face today are embedded in the very foundation of the US, this book is a rallying cry for a broad-based, abolitionist sanctuary movement for all"--

Book Synopsis

Days after taking the White House, Donald Trump signed three executive orders--these authorized the Muslim Ban, the border wall, and ICE raids. These orders would define his administration's approach toward noncitizens. An essential primer on how we got here, Bans, Walls, Raids, Sanctuary shows that such barriers to immigration are embedded in the very foundation of the United States. A. Naomi Paik reveals that the forty-fifth president's xenophobic, racist, ableist, patriarchal ascendancy is no aberration, but the consequence of two centuries of U.S. political, economic, and social culture. She deftly demonstrates that attacks against migrants are tightly bound to assaults against women, people of color, workers, ill and disabled people, and queer and gender nonconforming people. Against this history of barriers and assaults, Bans, Walls, Raids, Sanctuary mounts a rallying cry for a broad-based, abolitionist sanctuary movement for all.

From the Back Cover

"If you have wondered 'how did we get here?' Naomi Paik has an answer for you. This short but powerfully written book shows how the Trump administration's reliance on raids, bans, and physical barriers builds on a longer history of immigration restriction. Alongside this painful history is an equally long history of pro-immigrant activism, and Paik reminds us of the many ways people of conscience have also shaped immigration policy. This is an essential read for those seeking clarity on one of the most divisive issues of our times. The book will be important long after the current electoral cycle is done."--María Cristina García, author of The Refugee Challenge in Post-Cold War America

"Bans, Walls, Raids, Sanctuary contextualizes our current reality in a long legacy of racial exclusion in America. If we are to realize a healthy, multiracial democracy in the United States, we must face and learn from this history--understanding it can help us make meaning of the cruelty of our current era in immigration policy and can ultimately put an end to it. We cannot continue on this path. This book reveals a generational opportunity to turn the country in a new direction toward a more just, equitable, and inclusive future for all Americans."--Ai-jen Poo, Executive Director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance and Cofounder of Families Belong Together

"Bans, Walls, Raids, Sanctuary provides a much-needed historical analysis of our current political moment. It lays outs the policies and intentional decisions that were in place long before Trump and that paved the way for his attacks on immigrant communities. The book invites us to explore abolitionist sanctuary as a counter to the current administration's attacks."--Arianna Salgado, organizer with Organized Communities Against Deportations

"In my organizing work with undocumented communities, I have a lot of difficult conversations about criminalization and the history of racist, xenophobic laws in the United States. Naomi Paik's book has helped me through these conversations. I could not wait for it to be published so that I could point to it as a resource for people to read and understand that racism and xenophobia are part of this nation's history. Now I can share it as part of our organizing work."--Irene Romulo, organizer with Organized Communities Against Deportations

Review Quotes

"This is a slim and accessible text that could serve as an introduction to some of the most pressing legal, political, and ethical issues of our day."-- "Religious Studies Review"

"In Bans, Walls, Raids, Sanctuary, Paik has given us an essential guide to our current moment that is both forward looking and well informed by the past. Students, organizers, and activists alike will find this clear and accessible book useful and inspiring."

-- "H-Net"

About the Author

A. Naomi Paik is Associate Professor of Asian American Studies at University of Illinois and the author of Rightlessness: Testimony and Redress in U.S. Prison Camps since World War II.