Identities on Trial in the United States

ChorSwang Ngin radically shifts the asylum-seeking narrative by focusing on rarely heard stories of persecution and escape from China and southeast Asia. Identities on Trial in the United States weaves together the cases of a tortured student from a Myanmar prison, an apostate of Islam, several victims of ethnic and sexual violence from Indonesia, and the escape of men and women from China's draconian one-child policy, among others. Joann Yeh, an immigration attorney and contributor to this work, examines asylum seeking in a Mandarin-speaking Californian community and discuss the failure of the United States' quasi-judicial immigration system, highlighting "e;asylum lawfare"e; in courtroom dramas and arguing for an anthropological advantage in asylum preparation. This book is an essential text for policy makers, students, lawyers, activists, and those engaged with migration studies seeking a more just asylum outcome.