Precarious Protections - by Chiara Galli

About the Book

"Based on six years of ethnographic fieldwork and interviews spanning the Obama and Trump administrations, Precarious Protections chronicles the experiences and perspectives of Central American unaccompanied minors and their immigration attorneys as they pursue applications for refugee status in the US asylum process. The book reveals that the commonsense understanding of asylum as a form of protection for people who fear returning to their homes is nothing like how the asylum law works in action. Narrowly interpreted US asylum law fails to adequately recognize the experiences of youth fleeing Central America today, leaving too many at risk of deportation back to life-threatening danger"--

Book Synopsis

More children than ever are crossing international borders alone to seek asylum worldwide. In the past decade, over a half million children have fled from Central America to the United States, seeking safety and a chance to continue lives halted by violence. Yet upon their arrival, they fail to find the protection that our laws promise, based on the broadly shared belief that children should be safeguarded. A meticulously researched ethnography, Precarious Protections chronicles the experiences and perspectives of Central American unaccompanied minors and their immigration attorneys as they pursue applications for refugee status in the US asylum process. Chiara Galli debunks assumptions about asylum, including the idea that people are being denied protection because they file bogus claims. In practice, the United States interprets asylum law far more narrowly than what is necessary to recognize real-world experiences of escape from life-threatening violence. This is especially true for children from Central America. Galli reveals the formidable challenges of lawyering with children and exposes the human toll of the US immigration bureaucracy.

From the Back Cover

"In this rich, meticulous, accessible, and compassionately written ethnography, Chiara Galli illuminates the bureaucratic entanglements that unaccompanied Central American immigrant youth navigate as they confront the US agencies that govern their lives. Galli's compelling, humane portrayal is at once heartbreaking and enraging but also hopeful. Precarious Protections should be essential reading for students, scholars, practitioners, and everyone who cares about immigrant youth."--Cecilia Menjívar, Dorothy L. Meier Social Equities Chair and Professor of Sociology, University of California, Los Angeles

"An extraordinary book--deeply researched and beautifully written--Precarious Protections shows how the arrival of unaccompanied immigrant children is the ultimate test of the US asylum system. A must-read for students and scholars alike."--Roger Waldinger, coauthor of Origins and Destinations: The Making of the Second Generation

"Galli disrupts a narrative refrain in public discourse that paints immigrant youth as either innocent and deserving of protections or as con artists, gaming the system. Her rich ethnographic account upends this static binary and provides lucid details of the struggle to be recognized in an unforgiving and complex system. We are made aware of these unaccompanied youths' struggle and humanity along with the challenges faced by the network of legal brokers and organizations working to shepherd them through the socio-legal maze."⏤Lauren Duquette-Rury, author of Exit and Voice: The Paradox of Cross-Border Politics in Mexico

"Galli's ethnography inside the system shows the terrible catch-22 in which many Central American youth are caught. If they flee their countries before they suffer the most terrible consequences of staying, they will not accumulate enough 'humanitarian capital' to make a convincing case for protection in the United States, but if they wait too long, they risk physical harm and the impossibility of seeking safety."⏤David Scott FitzGerald, coauthor of The Refugee System: A Sociological Approach

Review Quotes

"For sociologists interested in understanding international migration (and any potential readers wanting to know more about the difficulties faced by those who undergo the process of seeking asylum according to a commonsense understanding of what should make for a valid asylum case), I would certainly recommend Precarious Protections as top-priority reading."-- "American Journal of Sociology"

"Precarious Protections expands our understanding of unaccompanied minors' migratory experiences, emphasizing the critical role of legal brokers in shaping these journeys. . . . The book stands as a testament to Galli's profound research and makes an invaluable contribution to the many fields of sociolegal study concerned with issues of asylum and the vulnerabilities of young people."-- "Law & Society Review"

"One of the most impressive ethnographic studies. . . .theoretically inspiring, methodologically rigorous, empirically rich, and politically significant. This brilliant book will be foundational to future studies of refugees and asylum seekers."-- "Sociology of Race and Ethnicity"

About the Author

Chiara Galli is a sociologist and Assistant Professor of Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago.