Rescuing Regina

May 9, 2011
Flynn's eye-opening and detailed account of what it took to win asylum for Regina Bakala, who fled Mobuto's regime in Congo in 2005 "after being tortured for advocating democracy," offers an inside look at the formidable and convoluted system faced by asylum seekers in the U.S. Regina and David Bakala and their two American-born children were feeling safe, well-settled in their Milwaukee home and church as the asylum process proceeded, when Regina was taken from her home and thrust into a nightmare. Bureaucratic and juridical traps abound; it took a village (media attention, a dedicated lawyer, St. Mary's parishioners, the Milwaukee community) to secure asylum. Flynn, the Catholic nun who organized the "Save Regina" campaign, which raised funds, created public awareness, and found political support, plays a major role, but her remarkable achievement is the telling of Regina's and David's stories, while relaying her own political education and spiritual engagement. Flynn packs in all the drama of a riveting escape tale; nevertheless, the story provides an instructive account of escaping a maze built by competing jurisdictions, derelict lawyers, and harsh judges.

May 15, 2011

A powerful account of the long and painful journey toward asylum for two Congolese refugees.

Regina Bakala, a former political activist in the Democratic Republic of Congo who suffered terrible consequences for her activism, narrowly escaped almost certain death in 1995 and made it to the United States—but not to safety. After living in America for a decade—during which time she reunited with her husband and had two children—immigration officials took Bakala one evening in 2005. A victim of poor legal representation and a cruel immigration system, she faced an extraordinarily difficult and complex case with few avenues for legal action. Yet an entire congregation, led by Sister Flynn, came together and generated an overwhelming amount of financial, emotional, legal and logistical support for her and her family—the result is truly uplifting. The book makes intensely personal two problems that are, to most Americans, impossibly abstract: the political turmoil in the Congo and the U.S. immigration system. Flynn explains the situation in a way that makes the plight of all immigrants, refugees and asylum seekers clear and understandable. Though the torture both Bakala and her husband endured in the Congo is horrific, Flynn handles their stories in a sensitive, compassionate way. In addition to their stories, a cogent overview of immigration policy, a rough primer for activism and the details of their legal process toward asylum, Flynn explores her own personal history as a survivor of abuse. As might be expected from a book written by a nun, the Catholic faith of both the author and the Bakala family are absolutely central to the story; however, 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.

(COPYRIGHT (2011) KIRKUS REVIEWS/NIELSEN BUSINESS MEDIA, INC. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.)

May 15, 2011
In 2005, immigration officials wrested Congolese asylum seeker Regina Bakala from her home in Milwaukee. A decade earlier, she had settled there with her husband, David, and their family, and she and David made lives for themselves and their children after fleeing the torture, violence, and chaos of Congo, where she had worked for a pro-democracy group, and he with a resistance group. Now they faced the horror of her deportation and almost certain death. They turned for help to a feisty nun, Sister Josephe, who found a lawyer and rallied enough support within the community to campaign against steep odds for Regina to remain in the U.S., given her compelling case for asylum and the bureaucratic bungling that now threatened her life. Sister Josephe presents a first-person account of how she got involved in the case after years of work on immigration issues and friendship with Regina and her family. She unfolds Reginas story and her own story of friendship and faith within the broader context of the desperate need for immigration reform.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2011, American Library Association.)