"Against the Wall" was chosen as a finalist for the Publishing Triangle's prestigious Randy Shilts Award.

 

"Against the Wall" receives an honorary mention in the 2023 Los Angeles Book Festival.

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“This courageous and compelling book by a Border Patrol agent-turned immigration-activist is essential reading to understand how today’s heart- less and abusive Border Patrol culture came into being and what needs to be done to transform immigration policy in America.”

—Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of "Strongmen: Mussolini to the Present"

 

“A shocking look at the ugly underbelly of the U.S. Border Patrol. Brave and unflinching, Jenn Budd is one of the most important voices about im- migration enforcement in the United States.”

—Reece Jones, a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow and the author of "White Borders: The History of Race and Immigration in the United States from Chinese Exclusion to the Border Wall"

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“With painstaking honesty and the sharp eye of a natural storyteller, Jenn Budd chronicles her journey from oppressor to activist. She investigates and condemns the agency she once was proud to be a part of while simulta- neously exploring her own complicity. As a woman in a heavily male-dom- inated law enforcement agency, a daughter of an alcoholic, a gay woman in a misogynistic, racist, and homophobic environment, she was determined to fit in, even at the expense of her own moral compass and mental health, ultimately numbed by the sexual violence and physical harm perpetrated on her by male colleagues. Jenn’s story, so deftly told, is a powerful testa- ment to the importance of confronting both our own personal demons and our country’s corrupt systems of power. This beautifully written book at its heart is about atonement and the unwavering advocacy that can grow from self-forgiveness.”

—Barbara Feinman Todd, author of "Pretend I'm Not Here" and founding journalism director at Georgetown University