Category Archives: Environment

Everyone was on the struggle bus for the beginning of day three in Falfurrias. We were all sore and tired and not ready to get out of bed. But, we did. And promptly stepped into the soupy, muggy, 98% humidity that was outside our door. By the time we left the hotel, the temperature was already higher than it had been the previous two days. After a quick breakfast of Whataburger taquitos and a compass check, we were on our way to the South Texas Human Rights Center to meet up with Eddie (South Texas Human Rights Center) and Don and Ray (Remote Wildlands Search and Recovery Team).

While we waited at the South Texas Human Rights Center for everyone to arrive, Tanya managed to get one line from the song Everyday by Buddy Holly stuck in everyone’s heads. I’m pretty sure I heard everyone singing or humming it at some point throughout the day. Once everyone arrived, we set out to begin our day of searching. We started out in the area where Oakley had been alerting yesterday to see if we could find anything.

Unfortunately, the hot and humid weather meant an increase in bugs and other animal activity. Anyone who knows me knows I absolutely hate bugs, especially spiders (you can’t trust anything with that many legs). But, Dr. Latham introduced us to a super fancy trick: the spider stick. We all looked like we were in Harry Potter waving our wands (sticks) around in front of us to break through the webs. I’m pretty sure Alex saw a snake at one point too, but he wouldn’t point it out to me because I also hate snakes (you can’t trust anything with no legs, either). Mid-search, we had a pack of javelinas that went running through our search party. Luckily, they were only sows and piglets, so they ran away from us in the other direction.

After a thorough search of the area, we only found older evidence of migrant travel in the area. We didn’t have Melissa and Oakley with us today, so we don’t know if Oakley would have picked up on any scents, but we felt pretty confident there was nothing beyond the old rusty cans, bottle caps, water bottles and empty fruit cups that we found.

As we moved onto our next location, Don pulled over to pick up some empty water jugs along the road. He said they were from several different time frames, indicating migrants may be or had been moving along that path relatively regularly.

Once we arrived at the next search location, Don took a minute to show us everything he carries with him in his Jeep. He could very well be a modern day MacGyver with everything that’s in there! We also took a minute to wave and moo to the cows that were nearby – something we did every time we saw a single cow anywhere. Sadly, they didn’t wave back. Don also brought out a drone with an infrared camera to see if any heat signals could be found. At one point, Izzy thought she was tracking migrant footprints in the dirt, only to realize she was tracking Eddie! We again found older evidence of migrant activity, but nothing recent enough to indicate this is an area of interest.

I view not finding anything as both a positive and and a negative. The scientist and forensic anthropologist in me is excited to find things, but, at the same time, I feel guilty because finding something means a migrant is or was suffering. I also worry that us not finding anything means we searched in the wrong areas while migrants were in distress in other areas. Logically, I know it is impossible to know and check every route, especially when they change frequently, but the thought of someone possibly dying in another area because we chose the wrong spot to search or they took a new route is upsetting. A life is a life. It shouldn’t matter where someone comes from. Everyone needs help sometimes.

As we were all hot, sweaty, and tired after the hours of searching, we decided to call it day. We loaded up in Gloria, the best minivan ever, and headed on back to the hotel. As we were leaving, we even saw a roadrunner (beep beep). Now it’s time to eat the best cake ever (mocha tres leches) and get some sleep. A great way to end our day!

Olivia

Day 2 in the field started with sleepy faces and gas station breakfast tacos, the best fuel for a hard day of work in my opinion. We made our way to the South Texas Human Rights Center to meet Eddie and Deputy Don White before leaving to start our day. Remote Wildlands Search and Recovery received a distress call earlier in the morning from a migrant abandoned in the brush. Thankfully, the young woman from El Salvador was located and assisted to safety.

While the members of the Remote Wildlands Search and Recovery were working to get her processed, we went to work with Eddie to repair and replenish water stations located on the way to the ranch we intended to search later in the day. We made a few extra stops where Eddie explained to us the meaning behind some of the things we were seeing. One of those stops was at a ladder attached to the fencing of a ranch. Ranchers place these ladders so the migrants can climb over the fences without breaking them, which is what usually is happening. At the pictured ladder, a lone glove hung from the dangerous barbed wire.

When we received a text from Don saying they were done and headed our way, we left for the ranch gate to meet them there. To pass the time, we had a small snack and a jam sesh to our team-made Texas playlist , including great songs like I’ll Make a Man Out of You from Mulan, Low by Flo Rida, A Total Eclipse of the Heart by Bonnie Tyler, I Want It That Way by the Backstreet Boys, 9 to 5 by Dolly Parton, and so many more. Music is an important mental health break and coping strategy for the Beyond Borders team. With the group back together, we went into the brush to really start our second day of searching. Thank the Texan gods that today was warmer because I think my lasting reputation here will be that I was the Louisiana girl that was always cold and is a “tourist” (Don’t ask — Just know I’m thankful my momma built me sassy and strong.).

Alex previously wrote that the terrain is unforgiving, and he was not wrong. The terrain was different today from yesterday, being more of an open field instead of working our way through mostly trees and thickets. With that, we got the gift of actually being able to see more than just the color of your closest team member’s shirt, and thus, our UIndy team was able to better perform our line search.

We detected very little migrant activity, only finding elements that indicated to us that it had been long since someone had passed through the area. We are also working with South Texas Mounted Search and Recovery. Melissa, Oakley, and Matt were off on their own. Oakley, a cutie sweet baby search dog trained by Melissa, showed a distinct change of behavior, meaning she found a scent to track. Melissa and Matt also said they were getting whiffs of something that smelled like decomposing remains. This gives us a new target area to search tomorrow. We communicate through walkie talkies as we are so spread apart, so we were also alerted when Don received another distress call from a nearby ranch. Border Patrol kept Don in the loop about their search for the distressed individual as we finished our search today.

In my opinion, tensions ran higher on our way back. It can get very frustrating having to repeatedly check and correct yourself in terms of directionality in a line search, while trying to stay aligned with your team, while being flanked with people who aren’t necessarily following the same plan as us, and on top of all of that, you’re hot, sweaty, sore, tired, hungry, and have to pee (this part is mostly if you’re myself, Tanya, Olivia, Melissa, or Dr. Latham because we don’t have the easiest way to pee outside if you know what I mean.). In retrospect, this was the most challenging part of our day, which is a win honestly.

We returned to the cars and went to shower and clean up for the evening barbeque! We met up with Eddie, the Remote Wildlands Search and Rescue guys and Melissa for some chicken, sausage, bacon wrapped jalapeño poppers, baked beans, potato salad, guacamole, and some quality time with everyone. I previously wrote about how excited I was for the food, and I have NOT been disappointed. Getting to see everyone in a more relaxed environment let us see a new side to each face.

As tired as we all are, we returned to our rooms smiling after another hard day of work. When we’re at UIndy, I like to say that one of my primary jobs there is to provide comic relief as tensions running higher than skyscrapers tends to be the norm. I tried to carry that over to this trip as well. Bugging Don and Eddie has been one of the highlights of this trip and memories I will carry forever. It is still serious work, but we do not have to be grave while we do it. Today, though, I felt a lot more emotions than yesterday. You never fully grasp the true gravity of what people go through until you experience a part of it.

Today started with the distress call. The young woman was 25 years old, only 2 years older than me, and from the same country my dad migrated to the US from. Seeing her face and hearing her story hit me hard. She was out there alone while I complained of being cold while dressed in multiple layers. I stared at the single glove hanging from the barbed wire for minutes as my mine wandered who lost this? where are they now? are they safe? are they injured? are they alive? I said there was low migrant activity detected where we searched today, but someone’s water jug was there. Someone’s cereal bar wrapper was there. Two individuals called authorities in distress to be rescued. Two individuals realized it was life or death and were luckily able to call in distress to be rescued. This journey people endure requires so much in every single aspect, physical strength, mental strength, strategy, knowledge, trust, and none of it is guaranteed to get you all the way to safety.

I don’t say this to bring the tone of this post down, but to recognize what I have. I am able to make jokes and keep a situation light. My life is not on the line, but I am searching for evidence of someone whose life may very well hang in the balance. You feel guilty for being “excited” to find something because you’re driven by forensic anthropology, but you also don’t ever want to find something because that is someone’s life lost fighting to better it. It’s another reason why the cookout was so nice as well, because we got to hear and express how everyone felt about this work that we do. That, although we all come from different backgrounds, use different protocols, have different political beliefs, etc., we all have the same goal. Keep people alive. Keep people safe. Help those in need.

To end this blog on a lighter note, here is a picture of Don being my bestie.

Izzy

The six of us focused diligently on our line search with each step we took into the sinking sand. The thicket was so dense that we could not walk in a straight line without compasses. The thorny bushes extended outward and clustered in groups; dangerously spiked tree-limbs slouched to the ground causing us to duck, twist, and maneuver underneath them to pass through. We could not ignore these spaces and walk around them or we weren’t being entirely thorough. What if a bone was dragged months ago by carnivores into a dense patch of vegetation out of plain view?

These areas are often too dense to see into from a distance. Our mental exhaustion was unquestionable. Our eyes swept the ground from left to right, alternating between farsighted and nearsighted focusing as we partitioned the different vegetation, rock, insects, animal burrows, and other potential safety hazards. We simply could not let our guard down during this process while we looked for human bone and any migrant’s personal affects. The wind was blowing violently which kicked up sand and further obstructed our vision. Our hats and glasses shaded from the sun but didn’t seem to block the sand from getting in our eyes, nose, and mouth and sticking to our Chapstick. The air was a humid 87 degrees for our last day of searches and dang did we feel it! Out here, it’s a different kind of beast.

During our first search of the day, Dr. Latham asked us to wait up while she investigated an area of interest. A minute later we all went over to discover that she’d found a recent camp-out. There were numerous backpacks. The fabric was fairly recent, so we unzipped them to find they were filled with non-perishable foods, prescription glasses, toiletries, electrolyte pills, fresh trash bags, and clothing. The trash bags are quite utilitarian: used for ground cover while sleeping, shelter, raincoats, blankets, and any other creative adaptation. You could sense the weight this had on our hearts once we realized these were signs of the recently living. We even found store-bought tortillas in some of the backpacks that just expired a week ago and were free of mold. A group came through here recently, far more prepared than most, and hopefully they did survive.

Today was our last day of searches and we had finally truly mastered our system. I am in disbelief that this is our final workday. We covered 5 miles of walking distance through extremely thick brush on 2 ranches. The average walking speed according to Deputy White is around 0.7/0.8 mph when conducting line searches through the South Texas thicket. Yet, he determined we were covering ground at about a rate of 1.7 mph. Deputy White has been conducting searches for decades, so it was invaluable to have his insight in the area. The technique seemed to be as follows: start with a coordinate of known migrant activity, or one that hadn’t been searched in a while. These could be prioritized due to 911 calls with GPS coordinates, some kind of insider intel, previously discovered pathways, or unsearched areas on a ranch that we had permission to enter into. Then spread out and sweep from east-west and west-east directions until you discover a sign or lack thereof. This is a vastly complex subject with various levels of involvement and organization, so we were largely there help out wherever we were needed. I wholeheartedly wish we could assist more often, but it’s all very complicated with this being private land.

Today has been my favorite day of the trip so far. Regardless of the treacherous terrain, the hardest part was saying goodbye. Goodbye to the Texas landscape: although it feels like a terrifying beach where everything is trying to harm you, it has been a genuinely beautiful sight to behold. Goodbye Eddie Canales: we have been truly inspired by your passion for saving human lives, your stories, your leadership, your contagious laugh, and your friendship. Last but not least, goodbye Deputy Don White: I cannot even begin to describe how much you have contributed to this life changing experience for our team. We are all indebted to you and look up to you so fondly.

Each trip is one in a million and is unpredictable in the best ways. This may end up being my last trip, but it won’t be the last for Beyond Borders; so speaking on behalf of future teams: goodbye all… until next time.

–Sammi