Seth Michelson to Publish Hope on the Border This October—A Poignant Call to Action in the Age of Immigration Turmoil

Seth Michelson, associate professor of Spanish at W&L, is set to release Hope on the Border: Immigration, Incarceration, and the Power of Poetry via Morehouse Publishing in October 2025.

Over three years, Michelson conducted poetry workshops inside a maximum-security detention center housing undocumented, unaccompanied minors—many held in isolation. He also collaborated with undergraduates at W&L to amplify the voices of youth enduring immigration enforcement and detention practices. The narrative extends to family detention facilities in the U.S. and major refugee camps in Mexico, offering deeply personal portraits of migrants fleeing violence, poverty, and systemic injustice.

“This book offers readers a factual, expansive and intimate look into the realities of our immigration system, which the vast majority of people in the U.S. wish to see revised,” notes Michelson, positioning the work as both indictment and invitation to reform.

Why Hope on the Border Matters Now

• At the Heart of National Debate: With immigration policy and migrant detention dominating headlines and policy fights, Michelson’s narrative offers rare access inside closed detention facilities. It humanizes the crisis at a time when legislative discussions often reduce individuals to statistics.

• Amplifying Youth Voices: By centering poetry and personal impact, the book elevates a generation often marginalized in policy debates—highlighting resilience, trauma, and hope.

• Inspiring Policy Reform: Presenting uncensored firsthand experiences, Hope on the Border pushes readers and policymakers to confront moral and legal implications of current enforcement practices.

About the Author

Seth Michelson has taught at Washington & Lee since 2014 and is the founder of the Center for Poetic Research. With over two dozen published collections—including Dreaming America: Voices of Undocumented Youth in Maximum-Security Detention—he merges literary craft with activism. He holds degrees from Johns Hopkins, Sarah Lawrence, and USC, and leads the Latin American & Caribbean Studies program at W&L.

Publication Details

• Title: Hope on the Border: Immigration, Incarceration, and the Power of Poetry

• Publisher: Morehouse Publishing (Fall 2025 release)

• Format: Narrative nonfiction enriched with original poems and firsthand testimonies.

With public discourse increasingly polarized over border policy, Hope on the Border arrives as a critical document for understanding the lives affected by America’s immigration system—and as a timely invitation to empathy and action.