Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis

by Jonathan Blitzer

She and another woman from Honduras hired a smuggler to help them cross into the US. The smuggler was in league with a cadre of Mexican federal policemen. For two nights, Tania and the other woman were driven to different stash houses along the border. On the last night before they expected to cross, they were taken to yet another house, where there were four other women and a group of armed men, including policemen in uniforms, keeping watch. One of the policemen held a gun to Tania’s head and ordered her to perform oral sex on him. She could hear the other women getting beat up in the other rooms. Early the following morning, Tania and another woman were transported to a separate location, where they were repeatedly raped. A week passed before local authorities found them and took them to a hospital.