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

Content Warning: This section of the guide discusses death by suicide.

Keldy made the journey from Honduras to the United States with her 13- and 15-year-old sons, Erick and Patrick, in 2017. Her husband, Mino, had made the journey some years earlier, along with her oldest son, Alex. She crossed into New Mexico seeking asylum. The family spent two nights together in detention, and the next day, the agents told Keldy they were sending her to prison for five days. Her sons would be sent to a shelter, and they would be reunited after her release. Her boys cried and shouted as their mother was taken away.

Technically, illegal entry to the United States was a misdemeanor, and repeated entry was a felony. However, agents rarely charged parents apprehended at the border because it meant separating them from their children. The Trump administration was eager to end the “catch and release” policy that allowed asylum seekers to go free while awaiting their court dates. However, detaining these migrants would mean separating families because laws prohibited detaining children for extended periods of time. The new family separation policy began “quietly” in parts of Arizona and Texas, including the “pilot program” in El Paso, where Keldy was.