Layla Amin

Layla Amin is a seventeen-year-old girl who also identifies as a Muslim American citizen living in the near-future United States. When we meet her in Internment's opening pages, she is sneaking out to see her Jewish boyfriend, David, while the rest of the town is at a book-burning. She admits that "this is a stupid risk. My parents will absolutely freak out if they find that I'm not in my room reading." So, right at the start, we learn that Layla breaks the rules for the people she cares about. As the book develops, we begin to see Layla's anger and fearfulness at living in such a blatantly bigoted and racist country. We also see her make rash and foolish decisions, and—in classic adolescent fashion—she is a bit of a smart-mouth. Layla is tremendously resilient, rebounding from horrible situations, and she does a lot of growing up in this novel as she learns how adults handle emotional, physical, and psychological trauma. The book is narrated from Layla's first-person perspective, so we see the events through her eyes.

Ali and Sophia Amin

In the early chapters of the book, Layla is angry at her parents for being silent about the continuous racist policies that are being announced from the White House. Layla tells them, "I know you've both been too afraid to say anything, to do anything, but your silence isn't shielding us from hatred." Layla's father, Ali, used to teach poetry and writing at the local university; he lost his job when the Muslim bans began. As Layla sees him,

My dad is every inch the professor. Thin but not muscular, with wavy hair that always looks a bit messy . . . My dad is not a yeller. He barely raises his voice at me, even when I deserve it.

Layla's mother, Sophia, a chiropractor, has "practiced meditation for years," though her ability to remain calm is constantly tested by her daughter and by the racist presidential administration. Layla's parents believe strongly in the freedom of religion and equality that America promises, but they are also conformers to the new racist laws; it's their daughter who is the activist and social justice warrior.

David

David, Layla's boyfriend, is constantly on Layla's mind. That David is Jewish and Layla is Muslim causes tension with David's parents, who have forbidden their son from seeing Layla, hence Layla and David's sneaking around in the book's opening pages. David is also angered by the racist presidential administration and becomes an important contact for Layla when she is relocated to the internment camp. Layla’s experiences with David before her internment serve as a counterpoint to her experiences in the camp. With David, she feels a sense of tranquility and joy, and she notes that she wishes she could sustain these moments for an eternity. By contrast, her experiences in the camp are extremely adverse and stressful.

Jake

Jake is a guard at the internment camp who is sympathetic to the detainees' cause. Though compelled to follow orders to a certain extent, he helps Layla communicate with David and expose the conditions at Mobius camp to the media. As a camp guard, Jake represents someone who is part of a system of oppression but who does not condone that system. As such, he is conflicted between the demands of duty and the demands of his personal morality. He resolved this tension by making a critical choice. During the protest near the end of the novel, Jake sacrifices himself in order to save Layla's life.

Additional Characters

In the internment camp, Layla meets many new people, including Noor and Ayesha, who become her friends, and the prison guards and the prison director, a ruthless and racist man. Some of these characters become allies for Layla as she works to expose the internment camp for what it is.