Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition

by Silky Shah

“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.”
—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 intersections of immigrant rights, racial justice, and 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 US immigration policy and its relationship to mass incarceration, from the last forty years up to the present, showing how the prison-industrial complex and immigration 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. Featuring a foreword by Amna A. Akbar, Unbuild Walls is an expansive and radical intervention, bridging the gaps between movements for immigrant rights, racial justice, and prison abolition.

Genres: Nonfiction, Politics, Social Justice, Race, Activism, History

331 pages, Kindle Edition

First published May 2, 2024

Reviews

[kathryn donovan]

Unbuild 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.

[Ben]

Immigrant 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?

[Nina · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Catherine · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Allison · Rating 3 out of 5]

Read for class!

[Thomas Edmund · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Alisa]

This 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

[Hope · Rating 5 out of 5]

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).

[Andrew · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[sna · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[JoAnna · Rating 3 out of 5]

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.

[Beth · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Glenn Harden · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.

[Aimee · Rating 5 out of 5]

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!

[Kw · Rating 5 out of 5]

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.

[Yamir · Rating 4 out of 5]

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

[Amy]

Really 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

[Ana Almeida · Rating 4 out of 5]

"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"

[Amador Salazar · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great read — the spoiler? Abolition is a vital strategy in the immigrant organizing world.

[lovelifeandbooks · Rating 4 out of 5]

Heads in beds make money. Money that is very much needed in rural and impoverished communities.

[Michael Freeman · Rating 3 out of 5]

A little lazy on the sourcing but overall a strong argument for abolition to be the main focus on immigrant justice.

[flora · Rating 4 out of 5]

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.