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

by Jonathan Blitzer

The images first appeared on a Fox News broadcast one Sunday morning. Families with small children were gathering south of the Mexican border, on their way to the United States to seek asylum. They were more than a thousand miles from the US, and moving on foot, with their belongings packed in sacks and bags strapped to their backs. Watching the segment from the White House, Trump started tweeting. “Border Patrol Agents are not allowed to properly do their job at the Border because of ridiculous liberal (Democrat) laws like Catch & Release,” he began. “Republicans must go to Nuclear Option to pass tough laws NOW.” Inside his administration, staffers scrambled to prepare for the president’s latest pronouncements. He wanted more money for his “big, fat, beautiful” border wall. The Republican Congress was already funding it, just not to the degree Trump had demanded. He called for federal troops to stand watch in South Texas. It didn’t matter that border crossings were at their lowest point since 1971, or that officials at DHS were in the middle of delicate negotiations over security and trade with Mexico. Members of the administration now had to explain to their foreign counterparts that the president’s Twitter fusillade had no bearing on their painstaking, months-long talks.