All posts by lathamke

Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain

General, Human Rights, Migrant Death, Reflections

As I prepare to return to Brooks County for a 14th year of volunteer humanitarian forensic science in the Texas borderlands I find myself pausing as I write. I’ve never been short on words as this work is deeply meaningful to me both in the practical purpose we serve and in the educational opportunities it provides to students. Our main goal is to assist in identification efforts for individuals who have perished while crossing our southern border. I believe strongly that everyone deserves the dignity in death of a name.  What started as a one year trip has now lasted 14 years demonstrating the extent of the need for forensic specialists at our southern border. In regards to educational experiences, my goal is to provide students with an experience that elicits empathy and understanding in a way that no book could ever do.  I began this work thinking we would quickly be irrelevant in this context because I was hopeful things would change. Whether that be a change in policy, a change in funding or a change in perspective. I fear my loss of words is because I’ve said much of this before and nothing has changed.

Team members search in the brush

My daughter is obsessed with the Wicked movies. My first introduction to them is recent, even though I know the story has been around for a awhile. I grew up with the Wizard of Oz. We would look forward to the time it was played once a year on tv, and it would be an event in our household. We would cheer for Glenda the good witch and for all the bad things that happened to the wicked witches of the east and west. We knew the wizard would end up being a fraud, but Glinda was good and the other witches were not. Wicked really challenged my childhood beliefs and showed me that the popular narrative is not always the truth. The man behind the curtain has more power in controlling the story than I originally thought. The truth is often a much more complicated web of rights, wrongs, goods and evils all woven together to form the fabric of the person or issue at hand. The fibers glisten with meaning based on motivation and perspective. To further complicate things, what is considered right and good by one is considered wrong and evil by another. This is the story of the border. Everyone in the US has thoughts and opinions about the border, but the more time you spend there the more you realize it is not that simple. That is why the issues remain.

Team members searching in the brush

This year the Beyond Borders Team will work with our colleagues from Remote Wildlands Search and Recovery. We will also be joined by South Texas Mounted Search and Rescue and UIndy alum Dr. Reed McKinney, DDS (a dentistry practitioner in Fort Sam Houston, TX). We will be revisiting areas where partial human skeletal remains were recovered with the hopes of locating more of the individuals that can be returned to their families. We will also be searching new areas that have GPS coordinates of missing persons in the hope of locating them. It’s physically demanding and emotionally heavy work. We have a wonderful group of people coming together for the same goal: to find those that have gone missing, provide them with a name and return them to their families.

We invite you to check in each day to follow our work. Thank you for your support!
~KEL

The Helpers

Community, Human Rights, Migrant Death, Reflections

“When I was a boy and I would see scary things in the news, my mother would say to me, “Look for the helpers. You will always find people who are helping.” ― Fred Rogers

This quote is commonly shared after tragic events like natural disasters to emphasize finding the good in every situation.  Helpers are the ones that run into danger, fully aware of the potential risks as well as what needs to be done to provide aid and assistance.  Helpers are the ones who extend kindness, calm fears and treat those in need with empathy and without judgement. Helpers often occupy a space where they witness pain and suffering, but they continue to aid because the heart of a helper is focused on acts of kindness over all else. As I reflect upon our time in the Texas Borderlands this year, I want to focus on the helpers. We have met many people that volunteer their time to aid in various capacities at the border out of a sense of responsibility and not for personal gain. This year we spent our time working with Deputy Don White and Paramedic Ray Gregory of Remote Wildlands Search and Recovery, who volunteer their time and resources year-round for search, rescue and recovery operations in Brooks County.

Deputy White and Paramedic Gregory in the Texas brush
Deputy Don White and Paramedic Ray Gregory talking during one of our breaks in the field

I enjoy our time talking with Don and Ray, learning more about them and hearing the stories of work they have done during the rest of the year. Don told us stories about the crosses he’s placed at recovery sites at the request of grieving families and the people he’s rescued and kept in touch with over the years.  Ray told us he does this work because everyone deserves to be found. He says he does this because he would hope someone would do it for him or his family if they were in a similar situation.  They have invested a lot into this work over the years, both financially and emotionally.  They have stories of time away from paid work, specialized equipment they personally purchased, injuries they suffered in the field, and traumatic stories from survivors and of the things they have witnessed. But they also have stories about saving lives and bringing answers to grieving families. They are the helpers who run into the brush when everyone else is trying to get out of it.

The helpers we’ve met at the border are a diverse group of people that range in age, experiences, educational and technical backgrounds, beliefs and political affiliations but they all come together to provide aide.  It demonstrates how the things we consider to be our differences don’t define us when faced with the harsh realities of the border where people are trafficked, assaulted, robbed, bribed and left for dead. It’s easy to ignore the situation when you haven’t heard the stories, looked in the eyes of parents fearful for the life of their children, translated desperate 911 calls for help, walked the clandestine paths through the brush or searched for the bodies of those that went missing. Once you experience this aspect of the border you never forget it and the helpers return again and again knowing the things they will see and the conditions they will face.

Our trip to Brooks County was successful in that we searched over 15 miles of clandestine wildlands and performed one recovery of an individual that will now begin the process of identification.  We were able to learn new techniques from Don and Ray regarding search and recovery work in this environment as well as strategies for our own personal safety here.  The trip was also successful in student growth. They honed their forensic skills, tried new things, met new people and got to experience a situation that challenged their assumptions and preconceived notions of the border.  Thank you for reading and following our journey. The groups you read about this year are all volunteer. You can support them here if you feel inspired to do so.

Remote Wildlands Search and Recovery

Beyond Borders

The 2025 Beyond Borders Team atthe start of day 2
The 2025 UIndy Beyond Borders Team (with Socks)

~KEL

Travel Day: IND

Community, Snapshots
Beyond Borders Team members placing gallons of water into the blue barrel of the water station
Team Members Filling a Water Station

Last night I got a late text from the student team members asking if they could put their unopened and left over water in barrels in the morning.  Driving anywhere in the vastness of Brooks County takes time, so our last day was our earliest start yet. After a quick breakfast, we packed the van, checked out of the hotel and headed south and east to roads that still hold the legacy of Eddie Canales: life saving water stations.

Beyond Borders Team members posing in front of a water station
Beyond Boders Team Members at a Water Station Built by the South Texas Human Rights Center
Team Members standing in front of the alamo
Beyond Borders Team Members at the Alamo

The team said goodbye to Brooks County and made the long drive back to San Antonio. The ability to leave the situation at the border is a luxury but the transition back home can be tough for some team members. I’ve found spending a few hours in San Antonio being tourists provides them with a bit of buffer as they shift back to the Midwest.

Team Members at the San Antonio River Walk
Beyond Boders Team Members at the San Antonio River Walk
Lilly and Chastidy at the airport after having their bags searched by the TSA
Lilly and Chastidy after getting their bags pulled by the TSA

At the airport we weighed our bags and had to do a little rearranging before checking them in. Then in the security screening line, we held our breath as our carryon bags, each with at least one animal bone or antler, made their way through imaging.  Chastidy and Lilly had their bags pulled for closer inspection.

We made our flights to DFW and then IND with no problems. We said our goodbyes at baggage claim and headed home to sleep in our own beds. We will continue to post over the next week and hope you continue to take a few minutes each day to read our reflections on this trip.

Students playing games at the airport
Chastidy and Makenna playing games at the airport while we wait

Jan 2025 Team at the IND airport
Jan 2025 Beyond Borders Team