New Yorker: In Plain Sight: A girl spent sixteen years in forced servitude. How much did her neighbors know?

Kevin R. Johnson

19 May 2026

Yudhijit Bhattacharjee in the New Yorker (registration required) (In Plain Sight: A girl spent sixteen years in forced servitude. How much did her neighbors know?) tells us about Djena. In January of 2019, the Guinean couple who had enslaved her at their home in an affluent Dallas suburb were convicted in federal court. Djena had been brought from Guinea to the United States as a young child—she was barely ten when she arrived. It was hard to imagine anybody growing up as a slave in modern-day America, let alone in an upscale neighborhood in a large metropolitan area. The story asks the question how could such a thing have happened here?

Apps Open for Guadalajara Program Jan 8-13, 2027

I had the pleasure of attending this program in the summer of 2024. I cannot recommend it enough. I learned a tremendous amount about the immigration process in Mexico. If you're interested in attending, fill out this short registration form.

Urban Institute: Impacts of Heightened Immigration Enforcement on Children’s Education by Hamutal Bernstein, Diana Guelespe, Laura Betancur, Julio Salas

New from the Urban Institute: Impacts of Heightened Immigration Enforcement on Children’s Education by Hamutal Bernstein, Diana Guelespe, Laura Betancur, Julio Salas "The study’s key findings are as follows: * -- Nearly half of parents reported that their children had expressed concern about going to school because of

From the Bookshelves: When Africa Comes to America How the Next Wave of Immigrants Will Transform the United States by Neeraj Kaushal

When Africa Comes to America: How the Next Wave of Immigrants Will Transform the United States Neeraj Kaushal Columbia News: "Africans are the fastest-growing immigrant group to the United States. Only a tiny fraction in the 1960s, they represented 10% of documented immigration in 2022. Without attracting much notice,

Law360: BREAKING: Justices To Weigh If Cooking For Terrorists Bars Asylum

Britain Eakin for Law360 reports that the U.S. Supreme Court today granted review "whether a Nigerian man's short stint as a cook for a terrorist group constituted `material support' that would render the already deported man ineligible for asylum." The Court granted the U.

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Apps Open for Guadalajara Program Jan 8-13, 2027

Urban Institute: Impacts of Heightened Immigration Enforcement on Children’s Education by Hamutal Bernstein, Diana Guelespe, Laura Betancur, Julio Salas

From the Bookshelves: When Africa Comes to America How the Next Wave of Immigrants Will Transform the United States by Neeraj Kaushal

Law360: BREAKING: Justices To Weigh If Cooking For Terrorists Bars Asylum