Content Warning: This section references family separation in the context of the US immigration system. 

Ask Me No Questions explores the post-9/11 landscape, a period characterized by strict immigration enforcement. The novel critiques the era’s immigration policies, highlighting their effects on families. The post-9/11 social climate, stamped by heightened scrutiny, xenophobia, and bureaucratic complexities, intensifies the challenges the Hossains face, causing physical and emotional separations between family members and ultimately the erosion of family bonds.

The most notable consequence of immigration policies in the novel is the physical breakup of families and the dehumanization associated with this process. The first instance of separation occurs with Abba’s detainment. The family fragments further when immigration officers take Uncle into custody: “Aisha argues with the policeman […] But he just explains it’s out of his jurisdiction, the FBI has taken over these cases, so that’s why they’re taking Uncle to a federal center” (86). The policeman’s response, indicating that the case is now under federal jurisdiction, reflects the impersonal nature of American immigration law. The Hossains are caught in a system that reduces them to mere case numbers, thereby overshadowing their individual human stories, struggles, and dignity—e.g., their right to remain together as a family.