Summary of introduction

Mohammad Akram was picked up shortly after September 11th 2001 in his convenience store. He had them been cut off from his family for five months. Finally his family was able to meet him in a room with glass on both sides. Only able to communicate through phones, his family eagerly talked to him until being ushered out by the guards. All this suffering was caused by the new definition of clandestine transnational actors, including undocumented migrant workers, refugees, smugglers and potential terrorist. Following the definition the government has gone after everyone in within the definition of the term furiously. Immediately following the event on September 11th, mass roundups of suspects occurred followed by FBI visits to thousands of Muslims and south Asians. Then the Patriot act, passed in October 2001, allowed for far great public spying. The special registration system came a year later which required all non-citizens of mostly Muslim countries to register with the government, resulting in thousands of deportation orders for people who registered. In December 2001, the absconder apprehension initiative included deportation order into the National crime center. Ever since September 11th, refugees limits has also been set and operation liberty shield has tightly monitored border and transportations. Aside from the government, businesses and finical institutions are also practicing discriminatory policies. Furthermore, reports of hate crimes against Muslims have sky rocked. This book tells the stories of people trapped in the situation.
Interesting facts:
In 2002 only 5% of African refugees were admitted, while 60% of Europeans were admitted.
290,525 registered with the government,13,799 were put in deportation.