Passport Bro

The AI Revolution: African American Trilogy

Fiction - Urban
351 Pages
Reviewed on 05/29/2026
Buy on Amazon

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    Book Review

Reviewed by Christian Sia for Readers' Favorite

Nubia Johnson is a disciplined, principled USCIS officer who discovers that her case files and digital badge are weapons in a hidden war in David L. Wadley’s Passport Bro. She has always believed in justice and fairness, even if it is difficult to find justice in the department where she works. Discovering that deportation records are altered and case files erased, and a scheme that targets vulnerable families, Nubia is determined to uphold the truth. In her attempt to save a detained child from an illegal removal masterminded by the Director, she becomes the enemy, a target of a corrupt system run by powerful men. She is framed as a domestic extremist, loses her access, and is forced to go underground. But she decides not to go without a fight. With the support of her boyfriend and recovering “passport bro,” Cush, the enigmatic Malakai, and a strategist called David, she sets out to unravel the web of corruption in immigration that involves profits from private detention contracts. What follows is a revolution that pulls the community behind Nubia.

The first sentence caught my attention: “Los Angeles always looked different when you came home broke.” This is how the author introduces the hardships in Los Angeles and progresses to paint a portrait of a society driven to tension by corruption and injustice. Passport Bro is a thriller that examines the machinery of digital surveillance, the loopholes in the deportation process that open the door for corrupt officials, and what happens when a community rises to say no. The characters are rock-solid, and Nubia was exemplary for me, a symbol of resistance and someone who quickly transitions from chasing accuracy at work to fighting against a system that profits from those they should protect. David L. Wadley’s novel is a page-turner that had me thinking about what is actually happening in the United States at this moment; it is timely and utterly resonant. While the themes are relevant and thought-provoking, the story itself is crafted in gorgeous prose, with exciting drama, an enthralling love story, and characters that stay with you even after you have turned the last page.

Ruffina Oserio

Nubia Johnson works as an Immigration Services Officer at the USCIS. She uncovers a disgusting web of corruption in the system and quickly becomes a target of powerful folk in the administration. She is a wanted person, and some call for her execution, live-streamed. People like Director Hall, who manipulates digital files to make immigrant children disappear while benefiting from private detention contracts, are furious. Hall frames her as a fugitive when she attempts to save nine-year-old Mateo, and a powerful man, Sable, sends out his militia to silence her and what she represents. But Nubia refuses to go down without a fight, and she pulls a team of experts around her, including David, a skilled strategist, and Onyx, her tech-savvy partner. Having returned from his “passport bro” travels abroad, her boyfriend, Cush, must face his own criminal past and do something to expose a conspiracy that reaches up to the most powerful places in the government. David L. Wadley’s Passport Bro is a searing story that shows what happens when someone is brave enough to stand up against injustice.

David L. Wadley’s thriller delivers a social commentary that brilliantly diagnoses one of the problems America faces today: the corruption prevalent in the immigration system, where officials broker deals with privately-owned detention camps and disrupt the system to cash in. The story is well-paced, and the short sentences and paragraphs are designed to create a rhythm that keeps one racing through the pages. I loved the response in Los Angeles to the persecution of Nubia and her choice to stand up against the corruption in the system. Passport Bro might be a work of fiction, but it reflects the painful reality of immigration policies designed to crush the needy, and that do so without humanity. I read this book as protest literature, and also enjoyed the complex love story between Cush, who hides his insecurities in chasing many women, and the strong-willed, competent, and well-educated Nubia.

Keith Mbuya

When Nubia Johnson, a United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) officer in Los Angeles, notices irregular activity in the organization’s system, including unauthorized overrides and directives on case files, she has no idea that something bigger is at play. She moves quickly to stop an override on the case file of a nine-year-old boy, Mateo, who has been marked High Priority: Removal Order Pending, only to find herself in the crosshairs of the director, Hall. He freezes her employee profile, limiting her access to the system and the building. Barely an hour later, she learns that Mateo has been cleared for Removal and that ICE has taken him. Nubia decides to follow the convoy to learn where the boy is being taken. What she discovers unsettles her and marks the beginning of her fight against the system’s injustices, a fight that will soon bring Los Angeles to a standstill. Find out how it all goes down in Passport Bro by David L. Wadley.

In Passport Bro, the second installment in The AI Revolution So Far, David L. Wadley sets the stage for Nubia’s resistance, bringing her together with The Price Bandit founders and unlikely allies. Nubia not only learns the dark secrets surrounding USCIS’s system, but also of Cush, her boyfriend’s past. Both Cush and Nubia reveal the harsh realities African American couples face, both domestically and at work. For black women, being competent at work means a heavier workload without fair compensation or recognition. I could feel the weight on Nubia’s shoulders as she was forced to watch vulnerable people who genuinely deserved help from the system being sidelined, ignored, and violated. My jaw hung open as I followed Cush, pursuing his dark desires and a place in Nubia’s world. I was enraged by his actions and felt like he did not deserve Nubia at all. He shows how unemployed black men with criminal pasts struggle with their identity and even their choices in life. There is action, suspense, thrills, and more in this read.

Essien Asian

United States Citizenship and Immigration Service agent Nubia Johnson already has her hands full dealing with her partner Cush Bernard's decision to globe-trot while finding himself, so she does not expect matters to get worse. When one of her old cases gets reopened, and her colleagues initiate plans to apprehend an innocent migrant child, Nubia inserts herself into the operation in a bid to stop the operation. Her actions suck her into a conspiracy that reaches high into the top echelons of the government, where powerful players have turned the illegal migrants business into an Artificial Intelligence-powered windfall. Now those individuals have turned their attention to the young analyst whose actions defy logic. Nubia must tread carefully if she does not want to become collateral damage in David L. Wadley's Passport Bro.

Love and politics collide in the second book in David L. Wadley's The AI Revolution: African American Trilogy. He explains Nubia's and Cush's origin stories while simultaneously emphasizing their differing perspectives on their roles in the relationship. This narrative style makes it easier for readers to identify with the troubled lovers' motives for some of their seemingly haphazard actions later. The dialogue ranges from street-level lingo to political ideology and back almost seamlessly, connecting to the theme of how the upper echelons of the political pyramid are needlessly handing over sensitive daily tasks to the machines. The fight scenes are detailed right down to the strategy sessions Nubia and her colleagues hold before making any moves. The author emphasizes the antagonists' counterplanning, creating a riveting narrative where both factions display similar levels of intellect. Passport Bro will appeal not just to suspense genre junkies but also to the deep thinkers who follow contemporary issues and can read the not-so-subtle warning in this entertaining novel.

Asher Syed

In Passport Bro by David L. Wadley, Nubia works inside Los Angeles immigration processing offices, where digital case systems quietly redirect families toward detention through hidden overrides run by federal director Hall. After she discovers records tied to a missing Ecuadorian child named Mateo Alvarado, Nubia loses access to her job, becomes the target of armed enforcement teams, and uncovers a link tying deportation contracts to secret holding sites where private mercenaries protect organized crime. Cush, Nubia's boyfriend, who shares her apartment, has former ties to violent criminal networks that suddenly place both of them under surveillance. As protests spread across Los Angeles, Nubia preserves evidence showing how immigrant families disappear inside Hall’s operation while financiers attempt to erase witnesses before the information reaches the media.

Nubia is an awesome, strong, Black female lead who is never going to back down from fighting the good fight. David L. Wadley keeps public scrutiny surrounding her visible once demonstrators gather outside government buildings across downtown Los Angeles. Wadley leverages this by leaning into neighborhood reaction, like entire congregations that begin viewing Nubia as a public representative for all the injustices slapped onto the disenfranchised and politically powerless. There’s an eerie real-life nod to the incorporation of riot officers and circling helicopters on the opposing side of demonstrations, and the atmosphere feels hair-raising and authentic. Onyx is a brilliant right hook to Nubia’s fighting persona, and her composure during safehouse operations solidifies the portrayal of a person with wholly recognizable human responses during political exposure. Readers interested in urban speculative fiction that's politically charged, Black-femme driven, and set in the textured metropolis of Los Angeles—Passport Bro is your new favorite read.