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

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals, or DACA, was an executive action signed by President Barack Obama in 2012 to grant temporary legal status to “Dreamers,” undocumented young people brought to the United States as children. The program grants temporary work permits and relief from deportation to over half a million young people.

The Farabundo Martí National Liberation Front is a Salvadoran political party that began as a group of leftist guerrilla rebels in the 1980s. The FMLN fought against the military government in El Salvador’s civil war. When the war ended in 1992, FMLN fighters laid down their weapons, and the group became a political party. In 2009 and 2014, FMLN candidates were elected president of El Salvador.

Guerrilla fighters are members of independent groups fighting against an organized, official army.

Immigration and Naturalization Service, or INS, was a federal agency from 1933 to 2003 that was responsible for enforcing federal immigration laws, including managing borders and ports of entry and providing services for immigrants in the United States, such as processing applications for permanent residency or a change of status.

Immigration and Customs Enforcement, or ICE, is a federal law enforcement agency under the Department of Homeland Security that was formed in 2002. ICE focuses on immigration enforcement, including border patrol and the apprehension, detention, and deportation of undocumented immigrants.

MS-13, or Mara Salvatrucha, is an international criminal gang that started in Los Angeles in the 1980s. The gang was originally a collection of young, recently-arrived Salvadorians who banded together to protect themselves from larger gangs. Over the years, MS-13 grew and spread back to Central America, largely due to US deportations.

The Sanctuary movement began in the 1980s to protect Central Americans whose asylum applications were being unfairly denied by the US government. Churches across the country declared themselves sanctuaries committed to protecting asylum seekers. Cities can also declare themselves to be sanctuary jurisdictions, indicating that local law enforcement will not cooperate with immigration authorities.