Helen T. Boursier

Desperately Seeking Asylum (eBook, ePUB)

Testimonies of Trauma, Courage, and Love

• Format: ePub

Produktbeschreibung

Told through heart-wrenching testimonies, photographs, and artwork of refugees fleeing their homelands, Desperately Seeking Asylum describes firsthand accounts of the harrowing and dangerous journey immigrants are willing to endure knowing that they might not even make it onto US soil. Desperately Seeking Asylum prioritizes the testimonies of refugee families and unaccompanied children who are seeking asylum in the United States from Central America, primarily Guatemala, El Salvador, and Honduras. Their desperate and heart-wrenching stories disclose why they fled their homelands, their experiences along the treacherous overland journey, and the harsh reality of how the United States treats these families and children upon arrival to the United States. It critiques US complicity to the violence they are fleeing and discloses how national leadership shapes US immigration policies and practices, including the blatant documented violations against asylum seekers at the US-Mexico border. Most notably, it offers transparency on US immigration practices at the US-Mexico border which violate existing US and international laws that are intended to protect asylum seekers, including the current official practice of blocking bridges with "turnbacks" to prevent "inadmissibles" from applying for asylum in the United States. It explains protections mandated by US law for unaccompanied children who are in US custody, and discloses violations which keep these children detained excessive lengths of time in substandard for-profit facilities which are overseen by the government and funded by taxpayers. Boursier also deconstructs the complicated asylum process, including examining the credible fear for asylum procedure, showing how technical terms and language are used to justify injustice at the border. Desperately Seeking Asylum offers hope for a new vision with alternative options and practical actions which assist migrants through humanitarian aid on both sides of the border. The witness for compassionate and responsible response by people of conscious becomes an antidote to injustice against asylum seekers. Instead of the current administration manipulating US laws to support its ulterior motives and political agenda, Boursier asks readers to hold US elected officials accountable to the same "Rule of Law" that the United States demands of refugees. Ultimately, Boursier suggests a spectrum of options for practical ways to make the political personal through public witness and civic engagement to transform the broken immigration process for refugees who are desperately seeking asylum.

Produktdetails

• Verlag: Bloomsbury eBooks US
• Seitenzahl: 236
• Erscheinungstermin: 19. November 2019
• Englisch
• ISBN-13: 9781538128343
• Artikelnr.: 57938907

Autorenporträt

Helen T. Boursier, PhD, is a public theologian, educator, author, activist, ordained minister, and artist who advocates for justice. She teaches gender studies; spirituality through a justice-informed lens to nursing and social work students; theology; and religious studies at the College of St. Scholastica. An ordained Presbyterian minister, she was a volunteer chaplain with displaced migrants at the US-Mexico border (2014-2022). Her books include Desperately Seeking Asylum: Testimonies of Trauma, Courage, and Love (Rowman & Littlefield, 2019); The Ethics of Hospitality: An Interfaith Response to U.S. Immigration Policies (Lexington Books, 2019); Art as Witness: A Practical Theology of Arts-Based Research (Lexington Books, 2021); Willful Ignorance: Overcoming the Limitations of (Christian) Love for Refugees Seeking Asylum (Lexington Books, 2022); and Precious Precarity: A Spirituality of Borders (forthcoming Fortress Press, 2024).

Inhaltsangabe

Acronyms
Acknowledgments
Introduction: Setting the Context for the Conversation
Part I: Testimonies of Trauma, Courage, and Love: Meet the People Seeking
Asylum
1 Desperately Seeking Asylum: Why the Families Flee Their Homelands
2 Fleeing for Their Lives: The Dangerous Overland Journey
3 The Harsh Reality: "Welcome" to the United States
Part II: U.S. Immigration Policies and Practices
4 The Messy Immigration Matrix
5 National Leadership Shapes U.S. Immigration Policies and Practices
6 Reality Check: Blatant Violations against Asylum Seekers at the Southern
Border
7 Credible Fear for Asylum
8 The Scarcity Mentality and the Language of Injustice at the Border
Part III: Hope for a New Vision: Alternative Options and Practical Actions
9 The Bigger Picture: Embracing Refugees as Neighbors
10 Moving toward Responsible Response
11 Making the Political Personal: Three Examples
12 Help and Hope for Migrants: Humanitarian Aid on Both Sides of the Border
13 Public Witness and Civic Engagement
14 Resources for Education and Action
Notes
Works Cited
Index