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Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition
Those who build walls are their own prisoners. I am going to fulfill my proper function in the social organism. I’m going to go unbuild walls.
—Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed
Drawing from over twenty years of activism on local and national levels, this striking book offers an organizer’s perspective on the fight for immigrant rights, making a bold case for prison abolition.
In the wake of post-9/11 xenophobia, Obama’s record-level deportations, Trump’s immigration policies, and the 2020 uprisings for racial justice, the US remains entrenched in a circular discourse regarding migrant justice. As organizer Silky Shah argues in Unbuild Walls , we must move beyond building nicer cages or advocating for comprehensive immigration reform. Our only hope for creating a liberated society for all, she insists, is abolition.
Unbuild Walls dives into the US immigration policy and its relationship to mass incarceration, from the last 40 years up to the present, showing how the prison industrial complex and detention enforcement are intertwined systems of repression. Incorporating historical and legal analyses, Shah’s personal experience as an organizer, as well as stories of people, campaigns, organizations, and localities that have resisted detention and deportation, Shah assesses the movement’s strategies, challenges, successes, and shortcomings. She highlights the limitations of reformist tactics, explaining for example how the “good” vs. “bad” immigrant paradigm has undermined the broader movement for racial justice and advanced fear-mongering around the US-Mexico border. Through challenging criminalization and embracing abolition, immigrant justice advocates have been able to reduce detention and deportations of immigrants in the US. Ultimately, Unbuild Walls is an expansive and radical intervention, bridging the gaps between movements for immigrant rights, racial justice, and prison abolition.
—Ursula K. Le Guin, The Dispossessed
Drawing from over twenty years of activism on local and national levels, this striking book offers an organizer’s perspective on the fight for immigrant rights, making a bold case for prison abolition.
In the wake of post-9/11 xenophobia, Obama’s record-level deportations, Trump’s immigration policies, and the 2020 uprisings for racial justice, the US remains entrenched in a circular discourse regarding migrant justice. As organizer Silky Shah argues in Unbuild Walls , we must move beyond building nicer cages or advocating for comprehensive immigration reform. Our only hope for creating a liberated society for all, she insists, is abolition.
Unbuild Walls dives into the US immigration policy and its relationship to mass incarceration, from the last 40 years up to the present, showing how the prison industrial complex and detention enforcement are intertwined systems of repression. Incorporating historical and legal analyses, Shah’s personal experience as an organizer, as well as stories of people, campaigns, organizations, and localities that have resisted detention and deportation, Shah assesses the movement’s strategies, challenges, successes, and shortcomings. She highlights the limitations of reformist tactics, explaining for example how the “good” vs. “bad” immigrant paradigm has undermined the broader movement for racial justice and advanced fear-mongering around the US-Mexico border. Through challenging criminalization and embracing abolition, immigrant justice advocates have been able to reduce detention and deportations of immigrants in the US. Ultimately, Unbuild Walls is an expansive and radical intervention, bridging the gaps between movements for immigrant rights, racial justice, and prison abolition.
280 pages, Paperback
First published May 2, 2024
90 people are currently reading
1885 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews
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June 14, 2024Unbuild Walls connects America's use of deportation, detention and border surveillance to the larger prison industrial complex. It would be a lot cheaper, more humane and probably better for our economy if local and federal governments provided migrants with social assistance instead of criminalizing immigration.
Maybe the U.S. could also prevent the need to immigrate by not intervening in other countries affairs and economies.
Silky Shah walks us through how Obama set up the systems and policies that Trump would later exploit and Biden would perpetuate. Ironically it seems that more progress was made to abolish detention centers during Trump's presidency because politicians were willing to distance themselves from Trumps overtly racist rhetoric.
Change won't come from voting -- change will come through grassroots organizations and local organizing.
Maybe the U.S. could also prevent the need to immigrate by not intervening in other countries affairs and economies.
Silky Shah walks us through how Obama set up the systems and policies that Trump would later exploit and Biden would perpetuate. Ironically it seems that more progress was made to abolish detention centers during Trump's presidency because politicians were willing to distance themselves from Trumps overtly racist rhetoric.
Change won't come from voting -- change will come through grassroots organizations and local organizing.
Read
October 6, 2025Immigrant justice and abolition go hand in hand. Attempts to reform ICE, the criminalization of immigration, and detention only serve to make the dehumanization of immigrants more palatable. Close the prisons and give the struggling communities that rely on them for employment and economic development a better way forward.
Local organizing can and has moved mountains, from closing down detention centers to pushing legislation ending data sharing between state/local police and ICE.
Do not compromise for the sake of getting something done and having something to show for your efforts. If that something isn’t freeing people, then what have you really done?
Local organizing can and has moved mountains, from closing down detention centers to pushing legislation ending data sharing between state/local police and ICE.
Do not compromise for the sake of getting something done and having something to show for your efforts. If that something isn’t freeing people, then what have you really done?
September 8, 2025
i had the pleasure of hearing Silky talk at Haymarket House. hearing her speak was very motivating. a well researched book, that at times read like a textbook.
October 24, 2025
“The carceral economy is embedded not only in rural areas that have seen prison building as a source of jobs and revenue but also in municipal, state, and federal infrastructure that has generated profit for the prison contractors.
In the climate justice movement, organizers have proposed a just transition from extractive economies, such as the oil and gas industry. Abolitionist organizers have drawn inspiration from this framework and propose a similar shift away from the oppressive systems of policing, prisons, and surveillance.
A just transition aims to support a regenerative economy that restores community stewardship and emphasizes sustainable practices and the prioritization of human dignity. As Ruth Wilson Gilmore contends, abolition "is about presence, not absence. It's about building life-affirming institutions.”
Radicalize me babyyyy!
In the climate justice movement, organizers have proposed a just transition from extractive economies, such as the oil and gas industry. Abolitionist organizers have drawn inspiration from this framework and propose a similar shift away from the oppressive systems of policing, prisons, and surveillance.
A just transition aims to support a regenerative economy that restores community stewardship and emphasizes sustainable practices and the prioritization of human dignity. As Ruth Wilson Gilmore contends, abolition "is about presence, not absence. It's about building life-affirming institutions.”
Radicalize me babyyyy!
October 5, 2024
I think I would've enjoyed this more if this wasn't the first book I read after a 2 month long slump, but I was really impressed/inspired to read about all the successful case studies in shutting down major detention centers and moving towards abolition Shah highlights in the book.
October 29, 2025
Important information on immigration and why immigration rights need to be included in prison abolition activism.
May 11, 2025
Read for class!
May 12, 2025
Unbuild walls is an interesting tome. I think right off the bat its important to point out that the majority of the book is about specific initiatives and movements within the sector, and Shah and Akbar show an almost superhuman knowledge of said movements across the United States and if this is a specific area of interest this book is a must.
For me however I was more interested in the nuggets of wisdom – ideas and perspectives that had relevance to progressive perspectives generally.
As an example, the authors talk about abolition as an approach in general and provide reassurance and challenge about understand abolition and incrementalist perspectives about how sometimes they can work together and at other times undermine. I’ve always struggled with these contrasting perspectives and wondering if I’m selling out if I support a gradual process. (if you’re not sure what I mean by those terms – absolutist essentially means to completely get rid of the thing whereas incrementalist means looking for the small improvements.) What the authors of Unbuild Walls says is that as long as you are critical about the incremental steps – that they are indeed small steps towards that abolitionist goal then that is still good. It’s small steps that end up supporting the status quo that one should be weary of.
I also liked the sections of the book that talked about why fair immigration was important, highlighting that the United States’ foreign policy has destabilized and affected many citizens from all around the world – being stringent and prejudiced about immigration is a form of hypocrisy (while the book is U.S. focused I think such lessons are significant for all States)
Finally I appreciate this books history lesson of immigration in the United States, highlighting how attitudes have changed greatly over the past few decades, but also highlighting the challenges of both sides of the political spectrum, not so much a “both-sides” perspective but here are the unique challenges of both parties.
For me however I was more interested in the nuggets of wisdom – ideas and perspectives that had relevance to progressive perspectives generally.
As an example, the authors talk about abolition as an approach in general and provide reassurance and challenge about understand abolition and incrementalist perspectives about how sometimes they can work together and at other times undermine. I’ve always struggled with these contrasting perspectives and wondering if I’m selling out if I support a gradual process. (if you’re not sure what I mean by those terms – absolutist essentially means to completely get rid of the thing whereas incrementalist means looking for the small improvements.) What the authors of Unbuild Walls says is that as long as you are critical about the incremental steps – that they are indeed small steps towards that abolitionist goal then that is still good. It’s small steps that end up supporting the status quo that one should be weary of.
I also liked the sections of the book that talked about why fair immigration was important, highlighting that the United States’ foreign policy has destabilized and affected many citizens from all around the world – being stringent and prejudiced about immigration is a form of hypocrisy (while the book is U.S. focused I think such lessons are significant for all States)
Finally I appreciate this books history lesson of immigration in the United States, highlighting how attitudes have changed greatly over the past few decades, but also highlighting the challenges of both sides of the political spectrum, not so much a “both-sides” perspective but here are the unique challenges of both parties.
November 4, 2025
when i first approached this book, the connection between immigration justice and abolition seems obvious enough and i’m reading to sharpen my own analysis to support this case.
what this book (newly) taught me instead was how the neoliberal reforms are looking like nowadays. with obama’s admin holding the highest deportation record, and how democrats’ call for immigrant “justice” is just to make detentions condition more humane instead of abolishing it entirely. there are many examples like this (of maintaining a carceral status quo disguised as reforms) throughout the book. i found the discussion around the legal system’s role in immigration justice particularly interesting: its duality in helping migrants out of the system while simultaneously being its own barrier to justice within the system (most immigrants cannot afford legal services and the author raises a good point about how we must start imagining and working towards a system that does not require legal help).
i also didn’t realize how recently the concept migrant detention actually existed. i somehow always thought it was a thing, but it makes so much sense because being a migrant isn’t a crime, so why are we building jails for them? it turns out it’s highly profitable, especially since most immigration detention centers are privately run and publicly traded (GEO group). so surprise surprise the more beds we put in detention centers, the more migrants get detained.
it blows my mind that a world without detention centers have existed in fairly recent history. the abolition skeptics are always asking about what will replace the status quo systems (obviously limited in their understanding of a just transition), but in the specific topic of migrant detention, abolishing ice and detention programs shouldnt even shake the system that much…
what this book (newly) taught me instead was how the neoliberal reforms are looking like nowadays. with obama’s admin holding the highest deportation record, and how democrats’ call for immigrant “justice” is just to make detentions condition more humane instead of abolishing it entirely. there are many examples like this (of maintaining a carceral status quo disguised as reforms) throughout the book. i found the discussion around the legal system’s role in immigration justice particularly interesting: its duality in helping migrants out of the system while simultaneously being its own barrier to justice within the system (most immigrants cannot afford legal services and the author raises a good point about how we must start imagining and working towards a system that does not require legal help).
i also didn’t realize how recently the concept migrant detention actually existed. i somehow always thought it was a thing, but it makes so much sense because being a migrant isn’t a crime, so why are we building jails for them? it turns out it’s highly profitable, especially since most immigration detention centers are privately run and publicly traded (GEO group). so surprise surprise the more beds we put in detention centers, the more migrants get detained.
it blows my mind that a world without detention centers have existed in fairly recent history. the abolition skeptics are always asking about what will replace the status quo systems (obviously limited in their understanding of a just transition), but in the specific topic of migrant detention, abolishing ice and detention programs shouldnt even shake the system that much…
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October 5, 2024This book appears to be written more for industry insiders - it doesn't spend a ton of time to set the lay of the land, and the writing style leans utilitarian (It's a bit dry and not written by a professional writer who has spent a lot of time honing the craft of storytelling).
It makes good points about how movements can get siloed into their area when they should broaden horizons to see how connected all social justice movements are - prison abolition and immigration go hand in hand since they use the same detention spaces and structural processes, etc. The other good point it makes is that local movements and leadership have been incredibly successful in affecting how national immigration policy and federal gov't orgs are able - or not - to act in their communities. Immigration is a fed level issue on the surface but the fights are won at the city level.
Read for the Virtual Socialism Reading Group
It makes good points about how movements can get siloed into their area when they should broaden horizons to see how connected all social justice movements are - prison abolition and immigration go hand in hand since they use the same detention spaces and structural processes, etc. The other good point it makes is that local movements and leadership have been incredibly successful in affecting how national immigration policy and federal gov't orgs are able - or not - to act in their communities. Immigration is a fed level issue on the surface but the fights are won at the city level.
Read for the Virtual Socialism Reading Group
January 16, 2026
read this for class and for my research paper this past semester and can hands down say i think this is one of the most critical books to read during this current political moment. this book offers one of the clearest contextualizations of the 🧊 detention system following 9/11 as well as a clear argument for the abolition of said detention networks. clearly we’ve seen an extreme escalation in the violence, death, and predation of undocumented immigrants under trump’s second term, but this book is extremely effective in articulating why detention centers cannot be “reformed” and are in fact maintained by the logic of “reforms”, as seen under obama and biden. genuinely one of the most significant books i have ever read and serves as a basis for how to critically understand the inherent violence of not only 🧊 and the dhs but also the broader carceral detention system that targets and violates black and brown people in the U.S.
April 19, 2025
Got a lot out of this. She does a great job of laying out the connection between immigrant detention and the criminal legal system and how the two things work together, further entrenching a carceral economy. I really appreciated how she gives a lot of data and examples about how shutting down detention centers and places used for immigrant detention has such a huge impact on reducing ICE's ability to inflict harm on communities and families. Filled with receipts and success stories, it's a book you'll walk away from more informed and empowered. Also was glad how she covered the history of immigration not being illegal until racist white power holders decided to make it illegal so they could deport people of color (specifically Mexicans at the time the first laws were passed).
September 2, 2025
I think I ended up reading this book simply because I loved the title, which refers to an excellent Ursula Le Guin quote from The Dispossessed: “Those who build walls are their own prisoners. I am going to go fulfill my proper function in the social organism. I’m going to go unbuild walls.”
I was expecting Unbuild Walls to make a strong case for the abolition of border restrictions and immigrant detention, but instead it gets quite deep into the weeds of immigrant justice campaigns in the USA over the past two decades. There’s value to that, of course, but it wasn’t really what I was looking for.
I was expecting Unbuild Walls to make a strong case for the abolition of border restrictions and immigrant detention, but instead it gets quite deep into the weeds of immigrant justice campaigns in the USA over the past two decades. There’s value to that, of course, but it wasn’t really what I was looking for.
October 16, 2024
Loved the way the author wrote about the connections that exist between immigration enforcement and the prison system. Before reading this book it was was not quite obvious to me how prison abolition was related to the need for changes to our immigration system in our country.
The book includes a lot of facts, figures, and detailed notes to back up the claims made in the book. Its quite dense but a quick read. I would highly recommend it for anyone struggling to connect the two main topics covered: prison abolition and immigration to the US.
The book includes a lot of facts, figures, and detailed notes to back up the claims made in the book. Its quite dense but a quick read. I would highly recommend it for anyone struggling to connect the two main topics covered: prison abolition and immigration to the US.
July 25, 2025
Untangling the systemic issues of immigration deportation policies, incarceration and the prison industrial complex, capitalism, and the dependency of (rural) communities on the privatization of jails is no easy feat. This book, written by someone deeply involved in the immigrant justice and decarceration movement, is very relevant right now. But be forewarned before diving in: This issue (and therefore this book) is very complicated and complex, and it is challenging to keep track of all the moving pieces and acronyms.
September 22, 2024
This book was eye-opening on the issue of immigration, especially across administrations. It frustrated me a bit though because I kept looking for some information on what the immigration system would look like after abolition and never found it.
November 17, 2024
This book is about our needlessly carceral immigration detention system and its bipartisan, racist roots. Shah also tells stories of modestly successful activist efforts to resist or undermine this system. Recommended for those who are thinking about how we might build a more just world, together.
December 27, 2024
Took a long break between chapter 6 and the end of the book, and glad I read the last two chapters post-election. Unbuild Walls provides many valuable lessons and insights in a moment that feels particularly despondent. Thank you Silky for writing this book!
December 30, 2024
4.5. Unbuild Walls taught me a lot about the harmful immigration laws under Clinton, GWB, and Obama, and about the necessary connections between PIC abolition and immigrant justice. A bit dry at times, but overall I'm glad I read this.
January 19, 2025
Great read and really appreciated the perspective of how prison abolitionists and anti-detention advocates need to work together. Many times an ICE contract gets canceled the prison just looks for someone else to put in there and vice versa. Abolish prisons now
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July 20, 2025Really appreciate the information this book conveyed. Really wish it wasn’t written so densely.
I’m not mad I read it, but I don’t see myself recommending it to others. Border and Rule by Harsha Walia is one that I’d rec if you want to read recent nonfiction about immigration
I’m not mad I read it, but I don’t see myself recommending it to others. Border and Rule by Harsha Walia is one that I’d rec if you want to read recent nonfiction about immigration
August 10, 2025
"The intersectional nature of the immigrant rights struggle should not be seen as a challenge but as an opportunity to bridge issues and connect the dots to imagine another world in which everyone can thrive"
November 21, 2025
Such a vitally important book for the current moment. Everything is so deeply obscured by moral panic and fear mongering that you forget things were ever different. The book is beautifully written and amazingly documents such recent history that we’re living in.
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January 11, 2026This book did a good job explaining for the reason that prisons and ICE have become intertwined. The author leads with showing how all administrations led to the situation we are in today. She brought in organizing stories to it and why abolition is the best
December 9, 2024
Great read — the spoiler? Abolition is a vital strategy in the immigrant organizing world.
January 24, 2025
Heads in beds make money. Money that is very much needed in rural and impoverished communities.
February 14, 2025
A little lazy on the sourcing but overall a strong argument for abolition to be the main focus on immigrant justice.
September 7, 2025
Excellent read. Would have loved if more of
the book featured the kind of organizing analysis you get towards the end, but understandable that context first needs planting.
the book featured the kind of organizing analysis you get towards the end, but understandable that context first needs planting.
December 31, 2025
Excellent analysis of the shared system that supports mass incarceration and immigration detention and necessary critique of liberal non profit orgs' approach to reform rather than abolition.
January 14, 2026
took me like 45 mins to get to work so i finished. again i love when books whack the democratic party for their constant lack of backbone
Displaying 1 - 30 of 32 reviews