• Humanizing Immigration: How to Transform Our Racist and Unjust System

  • By: Bill Ong Hing
  • Narrated by: Rob Brinkmann
  • Length: 9 hrs and 31 mins

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Humanizing Immigration: How to Transform Our Racist and Unjust System  By  cover art

Humanizing Immigration: How to Transform Our Racist and Unjust System

By: Bill Ong Hing
Narrated by: Rob Brinkmann
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Publisher's summary

“Incisive and compelling, reflecting the painful wisdom and knowledge that Bill Ong Hing has accrued over the course of fifty years . . . ”—Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

First book to argue that immigrant and refugee rights are part of the fight for racial justice; offers a humanitarian approach to reform and abolition


Representing non-citizens caught up in what he calls the immigration and enforcement “meat grinder”, Bill Ong Hing witnessed their trauma, arriving at this conclusion: migrants should have the right to free movement across borders—and the right to live free of harassment over immigration status.

He cites examples of racial injustices endemic in immigration law and enforcement, from historic courtroom cases to the recent treatment of Haitian migrants. Hing includes histories of Mexican immigration, African migration and the Asian exclusion era, all of which reveal ICE abuse and a history of often forgotten racist immigration laws.

While ultimately arguing for the abolishment of ICE, Hing advocates for change now. With 50 years of law practice and litigation, Hing has represented non-citizens—from gang members to asylum seekers fleeing violence, and from individuals in ICE detention to families at the US southern border seeking refuge.

Hing maps out major reforms to the immigration system, making an urgent call for the adoption of a radical, racial justice lens. Readers will understand the root causes of migration and our country’s culpability in contributing to those causes.

©2023 Bill Ong Hing (P)2023 Beacon Press

Critic reviews

“By the time they finish the concluding capsule history of US immigration policy’s structural racism, many readers will agree with him. A powerful, cogent indictment.”—Kirkus Reviews

“Incisive and compelling, reflecting the painful wisdom and knowledge that Bill Ong Hing has accrued over the course of fifty years representing noncitizens ensnared by our profoundly cruel and unjust immigration system.”—Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow

“For anyone who has wondered whether or why we should abolish ICE, this book is a must-read. Long-time immigration lawyer and activist Bill Ong Hing clearly lays out how racism, over-policing, over-enforcement, and the cruel absurdities of immigration law lead to wholly unnecessary human tragedies. With his deep knowledge of the intricacies of the law and its implementation, Hing proposes practical steps toward mitigating the worst of ICE abuses while also making a powerful case for the larger goal of abolition and imagining what a just immigration system could look like.”—Aviva Chomsky, author of Undocumented: How Immigration Became Illegal

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