Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian-American Columbia University student and green card holder, was detained by US immigration authorities for 104 days in 2025 after advocating for pro-Palestinian causes on campus. The book review presents his detention as emblematic of the Trump administration's authoritarian approach to immigration enforcement and suppression of political speech, with no criminal charges ever filed against him. His case is particularly significant because it illustrates how governmental power can be wielded against an influential voice solely for their political activism.

The review highlights how private detention centres create perverse financial incentives to keep facilities filled, with shareholders profiting from occupied beds and the system routinely appealing successful asylum claims to extend detention unnecessarily. Khalil's experience also exposes Columbia University's stance towards the pro-Palestinian student movement, treating activism calling for divestment from Israeli institutions as a "crisis to be managed" rather than legitimate political grievance, whilst characterising the diverse coalition of student protesters as an antisemitic hate movement. Fellow detainees from countries including Romania, Senegal, Nepal and El Salvador suffered far worse fates, languishing in the system for months without Khalil's access to legal resources.