|
The Slow Violence of Immigration Court: Procedural Justice on Trial
(2023, NYU Press) 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. "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 "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 Learn more about the book here. |
|
“Can You Hear Me Now? Attorney Perceptions of Interpretation, Technology, and Power in Immigration Court,” appearing in the Journal on Migration and Human Security, highlights issues of access to justice within the Executive Office for Immigration Review (EOIR). Grounded in criminological, sociolegal, and linguistic literature, I examine the effects of courtroom interpretation and technology on immigrant voice as described in interviews with immigration attorneys representing clients facing deportation. Attorneys overwhelmingly characterize the court as procedurally unjust, pinpointing how flaws in interpretation, telephonic conferencing, and videoconferencing offer the illusion of due process. Learn more here.
|
|
"¿Una Promesa Vacía? La Ilusión de “Los Derechos” en el Sistema Migratorio de los Estados Unidos" (A Hollow Hope? The Empty Promise of Rights in the U.S. Immigration System), appearing in Las Cadenas Que Amamos: Una panorámica sobre el retroceso de Occidente a todos los niveles (2021), explores matters of due process and procedural justice in immigration court.
"El objetivo de esta publicación, al menos, debe ser comprender de una forma más amplia y profunda nuestro tiempo, para así animar al lector a guardar una distancia que permita el análisis de la realidad y el conocimiento de causas, de fines, de motivaciones o de objetivos. También esta obra busca poner su justo adjetivo a quienes, vendidos a la idea fundamental del dinero, aniquilan los valores antes indiscutibles de “libertad, igualdad y fraternidad” que un día nos definieron e hicieron avanzar. Sin capacidad de crítica no somos nada más que esclavos, números aleatorios en una fila de reses que se incrementa exponencialmente en dirección al matadero." —Blas Salmerón, Todo Literatura Learn more here. |
|
“Family Separation as State-Corporate Crime,” appearing in the Journal of White Collar and Corporate Crime (2021 Outstanding Article or Book Chapter Award, Division of White-Collar and Corporate Crime, American Society of Criminology), explores the Trump administration's role in normalizing harmful state practices that, in collaboration with private and nonprofit actors, violate migrants’ human and legal rights and facilitate crimes against migrant children and families. Learn more here.
|
|
View my recent appearance on Culture and Crime Talks with host Dr. Sarah Daly to discuss crimmigration and The Real Housewives of New Jersey here.
|
|
“Conceptual and Empirical Obstacles in Defining MS-13: Law-Enforcement Perspectives,” appearing in Criminology and Public Policy, Vol. 19 (2020), draws on in‐depth interviews and surveys of law‐enforcement gang experts to link long‐standing issues of gang definition and measurement to MS‐13 in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area. Learn more here.
|
|
Capital Defense: Inside the Lives of America's Death Penalty Lawyers (2019, NYU Press)
Based upon over 60 interviews with capital defense attorneys from across the country, the book explores the challenging practice of death penalty defense. Among other topics, the book covers issues of race and gender, the attorney-client relationship, and the effects of capital work on those involved. "A thoughtful, immensely readable, and deeply researched book about the extraordinary lawyers who represent the condemned in the United States. The authors have made a significant contribution to sociology, criminology, legal ethics, and the growing scholarly work on professional identity. This book captures the world of capital defense like nothing I’ve seen before: the courage and humility of the lawyers; the grimness of the setting; the moral urgency of the work. The capital defenders whose voices ring throughout this book are inspiring. They are fighting the good fight for the most desperate and despised among us—in the most challenging and chilling of contexts. You can feel their passion, pathos, and pride of these lawyers long after you finish the book." —Abbe Smith, author of Case of a Lifetime: A Criminal Defense Lawyer’s Story Learn more about the book here. |
