3.5 stars. This book is an overview of immigration enforcement in the Trump era (exactly as its title suggests), focusing a good chunk on the various iterations of the "Muslim ban."

One of the most fascinating aspects - and the thesis of this book - is underscoring the fact that immigration agencies have a wide avenue of <b>discretion</b> in the way they enforce policies (i.e. trying and deporting people living here "illegally"). Wadhia states that ICE has the resources to deport less than 4% of the roughly 11.2 million people living in the US without authorization. Immigration enforcement is not a binary thing in which you break the law by living here without authorization and the authorities automatically come for you and deport you. In fact, immigration jurisprudence and guidance to the agencies follows a certain list of priorities of people who are first to be deported, such as those who have been convicted of a criminal offense. Under other administrations, people living without authorization who are contributing members of society, pay taxes, have families, have steady employment, etc. are low priority candidates for deportation. However, Trump's guidance to agencies and his executive orders basically state that any person without authorization should be targeted directly. There's not really a question of whether or not Trump can do all this, because immigration enforcement is one of the areas left up to the discretion of the president, especially where he deems it a matter of national security. However, Wadhia explains in legal and political terms what is so different and drastic about Trump's immigration policy compared to his predecessors.

My only criticism is that, even though this book is slim, it is a bit dry and hard to get through, in the way that academic texts you were assigned in college can be boring. However, it's a good read for anyone interested in learning more about the regulatory and policy framework around immigration enforcement.

Unfortunately I am unable to download this title for some reason and therefore unable to read and review. I will try to resolve the issue and will update this review. Many thanks for giving me the opportunity for reading and reviewing the book.