Author meets critic session discussing Chiara Galli's book, Precarious Protections

12:00 PM - 1:30 PM (Pacific Time)
Bunche Hall, Rm 10383

Author Meets Critics Session

October 13th, 2023

Bunche 10383

Precarious Protections: Unaccompanied Minors Seeking Asylum in the United States

Author  –  Chiara Galli (University of Chicago)

Critic – Amada Armenta (Urban Planning, UCLA)

More children than ever are crossing international borders alone to seek asylum worldwide. In the past decade, over a half million children have fled from Central America to the United States, seeking safety and a chance to continue lives halted by violence. Yet upon their arrival, they fail to find the protection that our laws promise, based on the broadly shared belief that children should be safeguarded. A meticulously researched ethnography, Precarious Protections chronicles the experiences and perspectives of Central American unaccompanied minors and their immigration attorneys as they pursue applications for refugee status in the US asylum process.

Chiara Galli debunks assumptions about asylum, including the idea that people are being denied protection because they file bogus claims. In practice, the United States interprets asylum law far more narrowly than what is necessary to recognize real-world experiences of escape from life-threatening violence. This is especially true for children from Central America. Galli reveals the formidable challenges of lawyering with children and exposes the human toll of the US immigration bureaucracy.

Chiara Galli is a sociologist and Assistant Professor of Comparative Human Development at the University of Chicago.

Amada Armenta is Associate Professor of Urban Planning at the UCLA Luskin School of Public Affairs where she specializes in the areas of Race and Ethnicity, Immigration, and Crime and Justice.