Rescuing Regina

The Battle to Save a Friend from Deportation and Death

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.