How was Donald Trump able to so quickly transform the “broken” immigration system into a spear pointed at the heart of US democracy? Why are paramilitary forces patrolling US city streets? Sarah Towle’s harrowing narrative nonfiction account of the first Trump regime’s record—family separation, kids in cages, those who remain in Mexico, illegal mass deportations—and the resistance and resilience of those caught in the implacable machinery, was nothing less than a preview of the brutality to come.

• Sarah Towle is an educator, researcher, and award-winning author; a human rights defender, nature lover, and choral soprano. She resides in an ephemeral borderlands, buffeted and buoyed by a diversity of languages, cultures, landscapes, and creeds. She has taught English language literacy, cross-cultural communication, conflict resolution skills, and the writing craft for three decades on four continents across the age span in myriad class contexts, including under the trees in refugee settings.

Music by Rod MacDonald