Identities on Trial in the United States

About this book

"ChorSwang Ngin radically shifts the asylum seeking narrative by focusing on rarely heard stories of persecution and escape from China and southeast Asia. 'Identities on Trial in the United States: Asylum Seekers from Asia' weaves together the cases of a tortured student from a Myanmar prison, an apostate from Islam, several victims of ethnic and sexual violence from Indonesia, and men and women escaping China's draconian one-child policy and prohibition of Falun Gong practice, among others. Joann Yeh, an immigration attorney who co-authored three chapters, examines the act of asylum seeking in a Mandarin-speaking, Californian community and discusses the failure of the United States' quasi-judicial immigration system, highlighting 'asylum lawfare' in courtroom dramas and arguing for an 'anthropological advantage' in asylum preparation. This book is an essential text for policy makers, students, lawyers, activists, and those engaged with migration studies who want a more just outcome for asylum seekers"--