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

In Everyone Who Is Gone Is Here, Blitzer illustrates the deeply intertwined histories of the United States and Central America, arguing that increased migration has tied the nations closer together, despite and even because of the United States’ efforts to stem movement across the border. The US’s focus on mass deportations has created a channel of exchange between the US and Central America, allowing everything from fashion to gang violence to become multinational. Blitzer argues that immigrants transform “two places at once: their new homes and their old ones” (5). Throughout the book, he illustrates how these changes often mirror one another, “irrevocably binding” nations together.

This theme of connection is most clearly seen through Eddie Anzora’s story. Growing up in LA, he watched newly arrived Central Americans start new gangs that began to change the landscape of Southern California. When the US began deporting gang members back to El Salvador, gangs began to reform in Central America. When Eddie first visited San Salvador in 1992, he was surprised to see “glimmers” of LA all around him. There were “LA transplants listening to hip-hop and flaunting cholo fashions” (261), speaking “clunky Spanish” and reminiscing about life in the States. Eventually, however, El Salvador began to mirror LA in other ways, as gang violence began to spiral out of control.