This summer has been especially lethal for migrants crossing the US-Mexican border illegally
shifting U.S. asylum policies that affect migrants of different nationality and family status in drastically different waysAndrade, his group, and an Associated Press journalist accompanying them among towering saguaro cacti quickly came across evidence of distress on this popular smuggling route – abandoned backpacks, still full of clothes, coins and even deodorant, and half-full water jugs, several days’ walk from the closest towns.
From staging camps guarded by cartel scouts in areas where the border has no fencing or bollard barriers, the migrants – usually men from Mexico and Central America – walk north for more than a week. They have to cross dozens of miles of desert mountains and dry washes before reaching major highways where smugglers’ vehicles will take them to destinations across the United States.
Even then, the migrant's body still has a long journey home. It takes time for authorities to retrieve the remains, which are then subject to forensic analysis to determine the cause of death. Often, that's never established; in other cases, the cause is listed as “environmental,” especially heat stroke and dehydration, said Dr. Greg Hess, chief medical examiner for Pima County.
“The desert does a good job covering up crimes,” said Mirza Monterroso, a forensic scientist and missing migrant program director for the Colibrí Center, a Tucson-based group that works with the examiner’s office. As soon as the remains Andrade just found are recovered, Monterroso will start working on confirming if they are indeed the young Mexican man’s. That might take up to a year unless there’s a lucky break, like dental records.
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