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

Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here: The United States, Central America, and the Making of a Crisis (2024) is a work of nonfiction by The New Yorker staff writer Jonathan Blitzer. The book is a definitive look at the history of the current immigration crisis and the relationship between the United States and Central America. Blitzer traces decades of US involvement in Central America, political corruption in the region, natural disasters, and the development of the United States’ immigration law and asylum system, illustrating unexpected connections and consequences. Through history, reporting, and the personal stories of Central Americans caught between these battling forces, Blitzer explores The Connection Between the United States and Central America, The Human Impact of Political Decisions, and The Resilience and Agency of Migrants and Activists.

This guide uses the 2024 Penguin Press Kindle edition of the text.

Content Warning: The source material and guide feature depictions of graphic violence, rape, racism, death by suicide, genocide, and violent death.

Plot Summary

Blitzer begins Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here by discussing US involvement in Central America in the 1980s. Both El Salvador and Guatemala were engaged in bloody civil wars against “leftist guerrillas,” and received military aid and support from the United States in the name of fighting communism.