Category Archives: Community

Interaction with the community of Falfurrias

Helping Families Find Their Loved Ones: Long Term Cases

Community, Human Rights, Migrant Death

Out of all topics I planned on covering this blog-year, I believe this topic is probably covered the most, mainly because Team UIndy’s expertise lies in exactly this category: long term cases. However, in the past, long term cases have mostly been discussed on the unidentified persons side. This includes the exhumation process and the anthropological analysis. So, for this post, I will focus on the missing persons side of long term cases

What is a long term case? For us at the South Texas Human Rights Center, we don’t have a particularly clear definition, but a long term case can usually be defined as a case that we’ve exhausted all possible resources to find a family’s loved one. This means that we’ve evaluated the circumstances of the disappearance and have called hospitals, detention centers, Border Patrol, etc. (all only with the family’s permission) with no luck.

In these cases, we do everything we can to keep the case actively investigated. First, we conduct a full interview that covers everything we can possibly think of regarding the person who went missing and how they went missing. Our form is around ten pages long and takes about an hour to fill out. We want the family to know that any and all information is extremely important and can ultimately can lead to finding their loved one. We ask for dental records, medical records, and any other potentially identifying information. With the family’s permission, we can file a law enforcement missing persons report and enter the case into NamUs (National Missing and Unidentified Persons System), which is an online database that allows the public to search among missing persons and unidentified persons cases in order to try and find matches. If applicable, we will send the case to other organizations to see if they can do anything to help. Finally, we try and collect a Family Reference Sample, which is a DNA sample that can be compared to DNA samples collected from unidentified human remains.

Missing in Harris County Day was an excellent example of all of our efforts to assist families wrapped into a single day. And while Team UIndy discussed the day in previous posts, I want to highlight some of the key successes of the day:

– We helped ten families through the entire process. Full interviews were conducted, cases were put in NamUs, DNA samples were collected, and ultimately families were provided with resources to help them find their missing loved one. Completing all of these processes is extremely difficult for so many reasons, and rarely happens. But on Saturday, we completed these processes for ten families. That is INCREDIBLE.

– We were able to help families whose loved ones were missing, not from the US, but from other countries. This is nearly an impossible feat. But thanks to the presence of the EAAF (Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team), these families could be helped.

– We were able to provide families with explanations about the entire process by allowing families to interact with experts. Again, because of the complexities of the process, families are usually left with more questions than answers after an interview or after a DNA collection. But with everyone together in one room, families could have many questions answered.

These long term cases are extremely difficult in so many different ways. And through this process, I’ve come to hold one position in higher respect than any other position I’ve witnessed: the interviewer. I am extremely thankful for the volunteers who listened to families as they told heartbreaking stories, offering condolences and an open heart to any family who needed it. These volunteers truly and honestly put the families before everything else. Some go as far as to give families their personal phone numbers to allow families to call whenever they need someone to listen. These volunteers were present at Missing in Harris County Day, and are a continual source of inspiration and hope during this crisis. I know I’ve said before that no position is more important than another, but I have to briefly disagree as I reflect on the fact that for these volunteers, helping a family ALWAYS comes first.

Ryan

Six people standing in a field in front of a red cross flag holding up nine fingers.

Day 9: How to Build a Water Station

Community, Environment, Human Rights, Migrant Death

One of the many ways that the South Texas Human Rights Center contributes positively to this humanitarian crisis is by constructing and refilling water stations to help prevent migrant deaths.  Every year, countless people die while crossing the harsh desert scrub land of Brooks County.  The water stations prevent more deaths by providing a waystation of relief in an otherwise unforgiving environment.  Building and replenishing the water stations is full-time endeavor that requires the aid of multiple volunteers.  Please check out this short video that demonstrates how much work goes into the creation of one of these stations.

To check out the South Texas Human Rights Center, please click here.

Justin and Helen

Day 7

Community, Snapshots

The first part of our journey today began with a four-hour drive to Falfurrias (with the bad weather it actually took closer to five).  While I’ve heard about how hot and dry this part of the state can be, it was instead overcast and rainy most of our drive south.  Once we arrived to our hotel, we stopped for lunch at an unlikely place for tacos, a gas station.  While I was nervous at first, the tacos were actually delicious and the tortillas there were hand made, exceeding my gas station expectations.

After lunch we made our way to Sister Pam’s apartment.  It was wonderful to get to see her again and catch-up on what she’s been up to.  After working at the South Texas Human Rights Center for a year and a half, she’s now been focusing on helping at the Humanitarian Respite Center at Sacred Heart Catholic Church.  Another way in which she’s been helping with this humanitarian endeavor is by creating bags made out of T-shirts.  Before we left Indianapolis, our program had donated over 20 shirts for this project.  Today we were able to help Sister Pam make the bags while chatting about what was new with each of us.  These bags are created by tying the ends of the shirts together and cutting off the sleeves and neckline to create the handles of the bag.  The purpose of these bags is for families to be able to store clothes, personal items, food, and water as they continue on their path after their time at the respite center.  While they’re usually given plastic bags, these bags made from T-shirts are much sturdier and hold more items.  I was happy to be able to help make the journey for these individuals a little easier by making a few bags.  Hopefully, we’ll be able to create more bags and donate them in the future.

Once we finished making the T-shirt bags, we watched a documentary that was made 2 years ago called, The Real Death Valley.  It’s a really great documentary highlighting some of the issues surrounding this humanitarian crisis and shows some of the excavations that the team from UIndy has participated in.  After discussing the film for a bit, we said our good byes and headed to Stickland’s for dinner.  We had some delicious Southern and Mexican food, as well as some tasty pie.  While most our day consisted of traveling, it was really rewarding being able to create bags that will be helpful to migrants on their journey, as well as re-connect with Sister Pam.  Hopefully, the rain ceases by tomorrow and doesn’t inhibit our next adventure to map the cemeteries tomorrow.

–Helen