We’ve been back for several days, but I still find myself regularly thinking about everything that happened in Texas. Even though we were only gone a week, it feels weird to be back. Being able to wake up in the morning without a mission and a day of hard work planned out feels wrong. Driving through Indy traffic and being surrounded by people and buildings and the bustle of a big city feels overwhelming. There was an aura of peace and silence in Falfurrias that is difficult to find here. While I wish our expertise wasn’t needed in Falfurrias, I want to be back in the field searching and helping in any way I can.
I grew immensely as a person over the week. I’ve been living a bubble of privilege, and, after everything I experienced over the week, I feel unsettled. Simply being born where I was born grants me so many freedoms and opportunities that people are willing to die for. It isn’t fair. A life is a life, and a border shouldn’t change that. While I know it is probably a pipe dream to wish for a world where borders don’t matter and people are seen as equals, I refuse to give up hope that it may one day be a reality. As long as there are people like Eddie, Don and the Remote Wildlands Search and Recovery Team, and Dr. Latham in the world, I choose to have hope.
Seeing the work they do and how they put their heart and soul into helping migrants makes me want to be a better person. To work towards a brighter future. And to be the best I can be in the field in order to help as many people as possible. This trip really solidified that this is the type of work I want to do. It’s easy to get wrapped up in classwork and academia, but actually applying what we’ve learned, and learning things that no classroom can provide, has made me a better person with a clearer view of the world we live in.
Even though the trip was physically and emotionally exhausting, I wouldn’t have changed it for the world. I feel like our team is bonded in a way that most people wouldn’t understand. Yes, we were friends before the trip, but, after spending so much time together, we’ve become more like family. We sass and nag, but we also laugh and really talk. We learned so much about each other that wouldn’t have come out in a different environment. We saw each other’s highs and lows, and, by the end of the week, we were functioning like a well-oiled machine in our searches. Words weren’t always needed; we worked as one unit. I know my teammates will go on to do great things, and I am excited to see where life takes each one of them.
I know I will forever treasure the memories I made on this trip. I hope I get to come back in the future to continue helping Don and Eddie with the amazing work they do in trying to make the world a better place.
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).
Day 3 Team Photo
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.
South Texas Human Rights Center in Falfurrias, TX
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.
Kids sit in the back!
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.
Discarded water jug
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.
Don’s drone
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!
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.).
Thorns in the terrain
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.
Members of South Texas Mounted Search and Rescue: Melissa & Oakley
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.
