The Line Becomes a River
by Francisco Cantu
(Bodley Head, £14.99)

LAST year, an Amnesty International report revealed that an already dangerous journey for tens of thousands of refugees attempting to cross the Mexico-US border has become deadlier still as a result of Donald Trump’s executive order on border control and immigration.

[[{"fid":"2457","view_mode":"inlineright","fields":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false},"type":"media","field_deltas":{"1":{"format":"inlineright","field_file_image_alt_text[und][0][value]":false,"field_file_image_title_text[und][0][value]":false}},"link_text":null,"attributes":{"class":"media-element file-inlineright","data-delta":"1"}}]]According to Amnesty, the US is building a “cruel watertight system” to prevent people in need from receiving international protection and Mexico is all too willing to play the role of the US gatekeeper. That strategy ignores the fact that these are people with no other choice but to flee their homes if they want to survive, the report stressed.

Trump’s wall, his controversial orders and the ever-expanding immigration detention centres will not stop people from trying to enter the US. Instead, they will be forced to take deadly routes through the desert, by river and by sea. In this sick cat-and-mouse game, the only losers are the hundreds of thousands desperately fleeing deadly violence in the Central American countries of El Salvador, Honduras, Guatemala and Mexico.