Two girlfriends growing up in Brooklyn, one with a Muslim background and the other Jewish. Yasmina, the Muslim woman, grows up to be a comedian and marries a funny Pakistani performer named Abdul. Together they play nightclubs and have a child. The narrator becomes a lawyer and works a career she’s not entirely invested in. They reunited in New York in their thirties and the second Trump election happens. This causes turmoil, but there’s still work for Abdul who is quite funny. Eventually though, on one of his trips home from a show, he’s detained by ICE, even though he’s an American citizen. They don’t care. They force him to self-deport back to Pakistan. Yasmina and her daughter follow. The narrator is left alone in the New York, fearful of a world without law.
Author
Joan Silber
Publication
The New Yorker, December 8, 2025
Date Read
December 7, 2025