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

by Jonathan Blitzer

As the sun rose around seven o’clock, about half of the migrants were walking along the shoulder of the highway. The rest were either sleeping on the side of the road or had caught rides on the backs of passing trucks. The air was humid and filled with flies, and the road baked in the mounting heat. Along the way, a Honduran man named José Tulia Rodríguez was carrying a giant white flag made from two large sticks and a piece of cloth. “Peace and God Are with Us,” it read. It was a message to Mexico, he said, “to apologize for what we may be causing here, and to show we’re grateful.” He had no money, water, or food; the night before, he had slept on the street of Mapastepec, where locals had packed him off with tortas to eat on his walk. His plan was to keep moving until he saw a chance to find work to support his family. “I have two daughters at home in Honduras, plus my wife,” he said. “I can’t make enough money working in Honduras to buy shoes for my girls to wear to school.” He learned about the caravan from a television news program. “People say this caravan is about politics?” he said. “Well, sure, if by politics you mean hunger.”