Welcome new subscribers! And apologies if my first posting for you is a repeat of Austin Kocher's recent interview with me, published on May 8, the date Germany surrendered to the Allied Forces 80 years ago. It was such an animated interview that Austin and I decided it deserved to be shared out via my Substack, too. And as I'm just getting back from a research trip to Berlin, during which I traced the parallels between today’s rise of US Fascism with that of Hitler’s Third Reich, I am a bit behind with my own postings. I am thrilled, therefore, to rev my content-creation efforts back up by re-circulating Austin and my book talk. And I’ll be back in your inboxes with Berlin reflections as well as the recording of the last Hope Knows No Borders Webinar shortly. Until then…
In Solidarity and With Gratitude
I am profoundly grateful to
for so many reasons. To start, his dogged determination to track ICE knows no equal. ICE is a notoriously opaque immigration law enforcement institution. Since I began bearing witness to its actions in 2018, ICE has only grown more dangerously Gestapo-like, aiding and abetting the Trump regime as it transforms the US into a police state.During the 2024 presidential campaign, while on tour with Crossing the Line, I often fielded concerns about a second Trump & Co regime harnessing the US military against its own people. That may well happen. But I commented regularly that they don't need the military, at least not right away, because they have ICE and Customs and Border Protection (CBP) — a combined 80,000-member force (and counting) that acted as the first regime's paramilitary army during the Black Lives Matter protests in the summer of 2020. I write about how both Homeland “Security” agencies have already been turned on us in Chapters 9 and 16 for Crossing the Line: Finding America in the Borderlands.
ICE and CBP suffer no transparency and little accountability, as evidenced by today's balaclava-wearing hunters and kidnappers of our community members, colleagues, family, and friends. If ICE had its way, we would know nothing of its missions and abusive actions. Thanks to Austin's constant tugging at the veil, we still have at least a clue as to its reach and breach of our constitutional rights and democratic values. For this reason, I urge one and all reading this post to subscribe to Austin's Substack today.
Austin's scholarship, what’s more, is admirable and prolific. The rate at which he pumps out data analyses and ICE explainers here on Substack is a sight to behold. More than that, his perspective is astute, which is why I approached him, back in the fall of 2023, to ask if he would consider blurbing Crossing the Line pre-publication. I was then new to writing on the topic of immigration. I was without any academic or media affiliation. Yet, Austin said yes, and he followed through. His generous assessment of my book buoyed me, lifted my confidence, and helped to fuel me in what for any writer are the final, exhausting, deadline-filled months leading up to launch day and the marketing journey beyond.
This is what Austin wrote:
"Crossing the Line is a well-researched yet accessible exposé of border policies that harm migrants and undermine the promise of America. From the ‘family separation’ policies of the Trump administration to the massive growth of immigrant detention, Towle’s ability to weave together first-hand stories of accidental activists—including priests, attorneys, and concerned locals—with the broader policy context is on display in an ambitious book infused with a profound commitment to humanity and justice. Every concerned citizen should read this book.”
“Every concerned citizen should read this book.”
My gratitude for Austin's endorsement knows no bounds. He didn't just read my book; he understood and articulated back to me the underlying mission I set out to achieve: to raise awareness among folks who, if they only knew, would be outraged, too, about US cruelty toward newcomers and safety seekers. That is why, when he asked to interview me about the book and my writing process, I jumped at the opportunity.
Our hour-long chat was rich and varied. In his introduction, Austin writes, "Sarah and I talked about the brokenness of the U.S. immigration system, yes—but also about the people who refuse to look away. Drawing from extensive on-the-ground research along the U.S.-Mexico border, Sarah brings readers into contact with the individuals and communities who are doing the real work of welcome and resistance."
We discussed the outsized contribution of women to both humanitarian aid and migrant survival, and why storytelling matters in a landscape flooded with rhetoric. We talked about language, discussing why slogans like “Save Asylum” often fall flat, while simple human truths like “Their Hope Knows No Borders” and "Our Cruelty Is Not Okay" have the power to touch hearts and change minds.
Calling it a "primer" text on the immigration issue as well as a "manual" for mass mobilization, Austin highlighted the capacity of Crossing the Line to help grow the movement for Just Migration. We expressed our shared commitment to that cause and our shared hope that by moving so fast to devolve our democracy into an autocracy, Trump & Co may have sparked their own undoing by giving more people more reasons to resist.
Resistance is stronger with knowledge.
For this reason, Austin and I hope you'll consider reading or listening to Crossing the Line to enable your personal journey toward demanding:
The abolition of the for-profit mass incarceration of peace-seeking people;
An end to the mass deportations, in shackles and chains, of the world's most vulnerable among us;
A more thoughtful interrogation of how our foreign and economic policies create the conditions for others' displacement; and
The creation of pathways to citizenship for all our neighbors, colleagues, family members, and friends who have been denied fair treatment for too long, by a racist society whose powerbrokers love being able to make big bucks off their labor and/or prolonged incarceration.
Because asylum is never illegal; humans are never aliens; and enslavement and oppression take on many forms.
One final comment before you press "play" and another point Austin and I touched upon in our talk...
Until we, as a nation, face up to the worst aspects of our collective past, including the practices of chattel slavery, genocide, and punitive "law and order" policing policies, we will never heal, and thus cannot progress. In this, we need only look to post-WWII Germany as an example. More about that in a future post, very soon.
Stay strong, dear friends. The only way through this is... Together.
Sarah
"If you're interested in immigration, public policy, or just trying to understand how we got here and what we can do differently, I hope you’ll listen [to this conversation]. Sarah’s voice is a powerful one, and this conversation reminded me again that we all have a role to play—even if it looks different for each of us."
Austin Kocher,
Syracuse University
Share this post