Rescuing Regina

The Battle to Save a Friend from Deportation and Death

By Josephe Marie Flynn, Foreword by Helen Prejean

BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY

352 Pages, 6 x 9

Formats: EPUB, Mobipocket, PDF, Trade Paper

Trade Paper, $16.99 (US $16.99) (CA $22.99)

Publication Date: October 2016

ISBN 9781613736586

Rights: WOR

Chicago Review Press (Oct 2016)
Lawrence Hill Books

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Overview

A community’s struggle to spare a Congolese refugee from being sent home

A decade after fleeing the Congo for the United States, having endured rape, imprisonment, and torture in her homeland, Regina Bakala found herself locked in a U.S. prison facing deportation to almost certain death. This harrowing true story of an asylum seeker and young mother of two tells how her husband, a feisty nun, a pit bull lawyer, and a group of volunteers set aside political differences to galvanize a movement to save Regina. Their struggle reveals the vast underbelly of injustice in America’s harsh detention and deportation system and frighteningly arbitrary asylum process. The book uncovers the very real dangers faced by asylum seekers in the United States, not only from the country they left behind, but also from the country they thought would keep them safe.

Reviews

"This may be the rare book that the staunchest progressive and the most devout Catholic could read together. Arresting and inspiring—a must-read for people of faith, immigration activists and anyone concerned with social justice." —Kirkus Reviews

"Flynn's eye-opening and detailed account of what it took to win asylum for Regina Bakala . . . offers an inside look at the formidable and convoluted system faced by asylum seekers in the U.S." —Publishers Weekly

“[Sister Josephe] unfolds Regina’s story and her own story of friendship and faith within the broader context of the desperate need for immigration reform.”

—Booklist

“A story about inner strength, community power, and healing through selfless bravery. Sister Josephe . . . leaves her readers with outrage, courage, and the dignity to dig deep, take risks, and fight for human rights.” —Sarnata Reynolds, Advocacy and Policy Director, Refugee and Migrants’ Rights, Amnesty International USA

“Rescuing Regina is moving, informative, and clearly written. It makes the complex US immigration system understandable. The Bakalas’ story is the story of so many others in our country, and it brought me to tears. Sister Josephe inspires us to fight the impossible fight. She makes us realize that a community fighting for justice can and does make a huge difference. By saving one family, she and the Save Regina team provide a model for us all.” —Anna Marie Gallagher, immigration attorney, Maggio + Kattar, and President, International Detention Coalition

"Some books simply tell a story, but Rescuing Regina can change lives." —The United Church Observer

"This book should be made into a movie ... it reads like a novel even as it raises troubling questions of social justice." —The Christian Century

"Gripping ... [Sr. Josephe Marie Flynn] writes of [Regina's] ordeal with passion, clarity, and tenderness." —The Bay State Banner

Author Biography

Josephe Marie Flynn, SSND, is the cofounder and chair of the Milwaukee Archdiocesan Justice for Immigrants Committee and a member of the Global Justice and Peace Commission of the School Sisters of Notre Dame. She lives in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Helen Prejean, CJS, is the author of Dead Man Walking. She counsels inmates on death row as well as families of murder victims and educates the public about capital punishment by speaking, organizing, and writing. She lives in New Orleans.

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