Description
Book SynopsisTraces the role of the aggravated felony in today's deportation regimeIn immigration courts across America, a non-citizen convicted of an aggravated felony will almost certainly face deportation with no access to asylum. However, despite the ominous-sounding name, aggravated felonies need not be either aggravated or felonies. The term encompasses more than thirty offenses, ranging from check fraud and shoplifting to filing a false tax return. The recent expansion in the list of such offenses has resulted in astronomical rates of deportation. This book chronicles the rise of the use of the aggravated felony, known by lawyers as the immigration law death penalty, to criminalize and then deport immigrants. Immigrants convicted of aggravated felonies are subject to mandatory detention and almost certain deportationand are ineligible for almost all forms of legal relief from removal. Furthermore, immigrants convicted of aggravated felonies can be detained for months or even years without
Trade Review"
Due to the aggravated felony provisions of US immigration law, a legal permanent resident of
the United States convicted of a crime—that is neither severe nor even a felony—can be
deported with no due process. Despite the severity of these provisions and the fact that tens of
thousands of legal permanent residents have been deported under these provisions, few people
have heard of aggravated felonies. This theoretically rich and deeply researched book brings
aggravated felony provisions from the shadows to the spotlight. Sarah Tosh makes a cogent case
that we need to abolish these racially biased and harmful provisions. This book is indispensable
for any student or scholar of immigration or critical race theory.
" * Tanya Golash-Boza, author of Deported: Immigrant Policing, Disposable Labor, and Global Capitalism *
"
In immigration law today, there is nothing more harmful to migrants than having ICE throw two
words in their direction: aggravated felony. Looking well past the legal arguments, Tosh turns
the aggravated felony from a technical legal concept to real-life anxiety. Through immigration
court observations and interviews, Tosh shows the damning impact of adding immigration
consequences to criminal legal processes, revealing the modern immigration law system’s
reliance on criminal history to be rife with bias and short on justice. But through it all, Tosh also
finds passionate advocates whose strategic thinking slows ICE’s efforts—and sometimes even
carries the day for migrants.
" * César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, author of Migrating to Prison: America’s Obsession with Locking Up Immigrants *
"
Through extensive interviews and direct observations, Tosh exposes the injustices at the heart
of the American deportation regime and the strategies of legal resistance mobilized to resist it.
" * Alex S. Vitale, author of The End of Policing *
"
A powerful and illuminating in-depth examination of the history, politics, and social factors
behind the ‘aggravated felony’ legal category. Tosh’s rich analysis deconstructs this invented
category, laying bare how it operates as a mechanism to funnel racialized immigrants to
deportation. Tosh’s original charting of lawyers’ and advocates’ creative strategies to get around
the most detrimental effects of the aggravated felony also seeds hope for pushing back against
inherently discriminatory and unjust criminal and immigration laws. Invaluable.
" * Nancy Hiemstra, author of Detain and Deport: The Chaotic U.S. Immigration Enforcement Regime *
