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

by Jonathan Blitzer

For two weeks, the document sat on Nielsen’s desk unsigned. Until she authorized it, DHS could not move forward. Trump called her five times a day to berate her. Miller and Hamilton timed their own hectoring phone calls for nights after eleven p.m. On May 4, Nielsen capitulated. But leadership at DHS still hadn’t addressed any of the problems reported during the El Paso pilot program. Despite their obvious lack of preparation, officials at CBP were sending estimates of the number of people the new policy was due to affect to the Office of Management and Budget. Between May and September 2018, the government planned to separate twenty-six thousand children from their parents.