Synopses & Reviews
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Asylum Denied is riveting and essential reading for anyone interested in the lives and struggles of immigrants. Kenney's story will astonish, frustrate, and inspire you.and#8221;and#151;Dave Eggers, author of
What is the Whatand#147;This is a fabulous book-a love story, a law story, a struggle against death, a battle for justice, and much more. I urge you to read it.and#8221;and#151;Bruce Ackerman, Yale University
and#147;Asylum Denied is at once a page-turner, a penetrating critique of the U.S. asylum system, and an exquisite exploration of humanity and politics, of emotion and law, of tension and release. It has the same narrative power that distinguished Jonathan Harr's A Civil Action.and#8221;and#151;Hiroshi Motomura, University of North Carolina
"A stirring account of one man's struggle for justiceand#151;first with a brutal Kenyan regime bent on political persecution, and then with an American immigration bureaucracy callously indifferent to a compelling case for asylum. This riveting story gives the lie to the symbolism of the Statue of Liberty, and calls on all of us to restore the vision of justice and inclusion that it once represented." and#151;David Cole, author of Enemy Aliens: Double Standards and Constitutional Freedom in the War on Terrorism
and#147;In Asylum Denied, David Kenney and Philip Schrag bring us a deeper understanding of the vagaries of our asylum process by telling David's riveting story. What society wouldn't be enriched by such stoic, courageous and principled strivers as Kenney? The more we learn of the lives and yearnings of such people, the closer we will be to an asylum process worthy of our values.and#8221;and#151;Senator Patrick Leahy, Chairman, Senate Judiciary Committee
and#147;From the horror of political persecution half a world away to the death of a thousand bureaucratic cuts here at home, Asylum Denied is a riveting microcosm of a story that has touchedand#151;and scarredand#151;countless victims of mankind's cruelty. And for sheer perseverance under impossible circumstances, Sisyphus could take a lesson from this tale.and#8221;and#151;Jeff Greenfield, Senior Political Correspondent, CBS Evening News
and#147;This is a powerful story, human and legal. It is as tense as a fictional thriller, but it really happened. The hero battles official torturers in Kenya, then American bureaucrats out of the pages of Kafka.and#8221; and#151;Anthony Lewis, author of Gideon's Trumpet
and#147;Asylum Denied takes the reader from the dungeons of the Kenyan torture chambers to the labyrinth of U.S. immigration system. It is both a thriller and an educational journey. It leaves you wanting to meet David Ngaruri Kenney, an extraordinary person who ran the immigration gauntlet, learned its secrets, and survived his ordeal.and#8221;and#151;Richard Boswell, University of California Hastings College of the Law
and#147;This chilling true tale is not only a poignant story about the heroism of an extraordinary Kenyan dissident, but also an exposand#233; of the apathy, incompetence, and occasional outright cruelty that slither away in the darker corners of the immigration bureaucracy. As you read this chilling true tale, you will share the authors' anger, stress, sadness, and unbearable frustrationand#151;but be prepared for some surprises.and#8221;and#151;Stephen H. Legomsky, Washington University School of Law
and#147;Asylum Denied is several things in one enthralling whole: a vivid and moving story of persecution and resilience in East Africa, an infuriating and inspiring story of administrative malfeasance and lawyerly devotion in the U. S., as well as a love story and a reasoned proposal for reform. If there is any justice, the asylum system will be reformed and this wonderful book will be read by everyone who cares about what America is becoming.and#8221;and#151;Todd Gitlin, Columbia University
Review
and#8220;Reminds us of the persecution that refugees face, takes our collective conscience and shakes it to the core.and#8221;
Review
“Reads like a suspense story.” America Magazine
Review
and#8220;A dismaying account of bureaucracy at its red-tape-bound worst. . . . Wrenching human dramaand#8221;
Review
and#8220;Astonishing in its power to move and inform. . .Its core concerns for justice and reform remain directed at American society.and#8221;
Review
and#8220;A model of polished prose and informed advocacy .and#8221;
Review
and#8220;Reads like a suspense story.and#8221;
Synopsis
Asylum Denied is the gripping story of political refugee David Ngaruri Kenney's harrowing odyssey through the world of immigration processing in the United States. Kenney, while living in his native Kenya, led a boycott to protest his government's treatment of his fellow farmers. He was subsequently arrested and taken into the forest to be executed. This book, told by Kenney and his lawyer Philip G. Schrag from Kenney's own perspective, tells of his near-murder, imprisonment, and torture in Kenya; his remarkable escape to the United States; and the obstacle course of ordeals and proceedings he faced as U.S. government agencies sought to deport him to Kenya. A story of courage, love, perseverance, and legal strategy, Asylum Denied brings to life the human costs associated with our immigration laws and suggests reforms that are desperately needed to help other victims of human rights violations.
About the Author
David Ngaruri Kenney came to the United States after he was persecuted in Kenya. He continues to pursue a career in public service and currently works at the Montgomery County State 's Attorney's Office in Maryland, USA. Philip G. Schrag is Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Applied Legal Studies at Georgetown University Law Center. He is the author of many books including Ethical Problems in the Practice of Law, with Lisa G. Lerman, and A Well-Founded Fear: The Congressional Battle to Save Political Asylum in America.
Table of Contents
Introduction by Philip G. Schrag
1. The Farmersand#8217; Boycott
2. Basketball
3. Temporary Safety
4. Bernie and Dave
5. My Day in Court
6. Winning the Lottery
7. The Fourth Circuit
8. A Cold Day in Richmond
9. Exiled
10. The Witch Arrives
The Lawyerand#8217;s Epilogue
The Clientand#8217;s Epilogue
Notes
Acknowledgments
Index