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Photo by Esy Casey and Sarah Friedland, Perinspire LLC

Why do you do this?

“Why do you do this?” is one of the first questions I am often asked about my work with migrant death.  This seems like such a simple question, one that would be easy to answer.  But to be honest I couldn’t find the words to answer the first few times I was asked. I’m not sure how I came off as I stumbled for a response, or how my pause was interpreted.  I was flustered not because I didn’t know how to answer, but I was surprised they had to ask. These are human beings who are refugees of extreme poverty and institutionalized violence. These are human beings who died trying to get to a place they thought would bring freedoms and safety. These are human beings who were invisible in life and who were being forgotten in death. These are human beings who have family members wondering what happened to them and where they are. But first and foremost, these are human beings.  “Why wouldn’t I do this?” I wanted to ask in return.  I am fortunate that I have a specialized skill set that allows me to contribute to the exhumations and identifications. I am lucky that I have a university that has “Education for Service” as its motto and supports my work on this mission. I am lucky I have graduate students who are passionate, dedicated and trained to work in these situations. I am lucky I have the support of my friends and family to do this. I am lucky. They were not. They are still human beings who have basic human rights and whose families have basic human rights. I do this not because I want to, because no one should want this amount of pain and suffering in our country. I do this because it’s the right thing to do. I wondered how my students would respond if I asked them the same question —Justin removing burial fill with a dustpan from inside of a burial

Justin:  The reason I am here in Texas is to give a voice to those who cannot speak for themselves.  The training we receive at UIndy has equipped us with a very special skill set.  We are taught to both recover and help to identify skeletal remains.  We are often the last resort, and can help to give a name to the unidentified when no one else can.  Our goals are simple: Locate the remains of those who have been buried unceremoniously without a name and identify them so they can be returned to their families.  I hope the work that we do will bring about closure for their families.  I cannot fix the past or offer any sort of justice, but hopefully I can give families a place to mourn the loss of their loved ones.

Team members working around a burial marker from the ground surface
Ryan:  First and foremost, I’m here to assist in any way I can, whether it is in the form of exhuming migrant remains in hopes of identifying them or in the form of interacting with locals to better understand and respect the depth of the crisis. As a student of anthropology I’m here to try and understand the culture behind the human rights crisis, including what it means to be a migrant, a border patrol agent, a human rights activist, a civilian living in a town affected by the crisis, a rancher, or any other individual with a unique perspective on the situation. As a field expert I’m here to teach students how to systematically, professionally, and respectfully exhume the remains while emphasizing the importance of the crisis. I also hope to instill in these students a sense of passion and drive to provide assistance and seek a better understanding of the complexity of the situation. But most importantly, as a human being I’m here to simply help in any way I can.

EricaErica standing in a burial with a shovel:  Last year when I was invited to participate in this project I had no idea how connected I would become to the issue and the community.  Research helped prepare me, but after being here last field season I knew I needed to return to Falfurrias. Hearing the stories from border patrol and locals are harrowing. This issue goes far beyond the scope
of Brooks County but no matter which side you are on, the number of individuals perishing alone in the desert is devastating. I came back this field season because this is just one small step to returning the missing to their despondent families, but it is a step to which I am able to contribute.  I am here to help the wonderfully gracious Falfurrias community, to shed light on the plight of those trying to make it North for a better life, and to help find the ones that have gone missing but who should never be forgotten.

Jessica removing burial fill with a shovelJessica:   The work we do in Falfurrias is extremely important.  I am here because there is a need for the skills I (we) have that allow the exhumation of unidentified remains, which is the necessary first step in the identification and subsequent repatriation of migrants.  Every unidentified in Sacred Heart Cemetery has a mother, father, brother, sister or children, that know they are lost and are looking for them, hoping for answers that will never come if they are not exhumed first.  I think, “How would I feel if my family member disappeared and I never found out what happened to them?”  These migrants sacrifice more than we can comprehend to come here for a better life for their families.  We have the knowledge and skills that can help give a voice to those that can’t find their way anymore.  Frankly, anything I can do to help this crisis in Brooks County, to help with the basic human right to life (and death) is why I am in in Falfurrias.

Beyond borders team members working with trowels in a burial from the ground surface

Cheneta:  Originally I came here because forensics is a career that I would love to be a part of.  I was asked to join the UIndy team and I knew that it would be a great opportunity.  If I were serious about forensic science this was a trip that would reassure if this was a career I wanted.  But it wasn’t until after I got to Falfurrias that I really learned why I was here.  While I have been here, I have been introduced to the story and the background of the work we are doing.  So now I know that I am here not only because it’s an opportunity but because it is making a difference.  The migrants coming to the United States trying to live a better life but not making it deserve to be found and identified to be returned to their families.  We are here – well I am here because people deserve to know where their loved ones are and it they are alive.  If there they are not they deserve to make peace with that individual.

I am continually in awe of the professionalism, maturity and dedication of the University of Indianapolis Human Biology Students.  The human rights crisis on the border is complex, and our work there is physically and mentally exhausting. Yet they don’t complain and they don’t think of themselves. They continually reflect on ways in which science can contribute to closure for the families and ways in which they can grow from this experience and bring awareness to the crisis.

~KEL

Leaving Texas

Group picture outside a yellow hotel with one finger raised on one hand and two fingers raised on the other hand

Two men standing behind the counter at a shop with various pastries in the clear glass cover of the counter
Dos Gatos

Our last morning we decided to take it slow and see a little more of San Marcos. We were happy to leave the Red Roof Inn and head out to explore more of this part of Texas.  For breakfast Ryan took us to Dos Gatos for some amazing kolaches.  We each got two (a savory and a sweet), plus we got a half dozen for the group to snack on later.   Then we went to Mochas & Javas for coffee.  We spent the morning retelling stories and reliving memories we had made during our trip.  We also spent part of our time at the coffee shop doing our last team debriefing for the trip.  Our debriefings were simple: 1) What did we do well yesterday, 2) How can we improve our methods, 3) Questions and 4) Plans for tomorrow.  Since we weren’t in the field the previous day our discussions focused more on future plans: how we will maintain the blog as we move from the field to the lab phase of the mission, how we will process and analyze the unidentified individuals from Sacred Heart that will come to Indianapolis, how we can support our colleagues at Texas State University that are doing a large amount of processing, how we can support our colleague at California State University at Chico who is doing the isotope analysis, and how we can continue to raise funds for our return trip next year and the costs of analysis, while bringing awareness to the issue.

Group picture all standing in the river with no shoes on
The River

Before heading to the airport we needed to make one more San Marcos staple stop, the river.  Ryan led us to one of the more secluded spots on the river where we were all able to take off our shoes and soak our tired feet. Standing in the river as the water rushed over our feet was a great way to decompress after our two weeks in Brooks County.  Ryan and Justin taught us how to skip stones, we did some bird watching and mostly we just took the time to relax because we’ll be jumping right back into full schedules once we get back home.  Some of us will be taking classes, teaching, working, preparing to travel for data collection and diving into the forensic caseload that accumulated while we were gone.

Team picture all in their seats on the plane
Homeward bound

Unfortunately we did not have a ton of time to spare and had to soon head back to San Antonio to catch our flight home.  Just like last summer, I learned so much from this experience.  I was honored to meet the many people that would visit our site to show their support and gratitude and the many people that are also working on this human rights crisis in differing fashions. The community has been so welcoming and kind to us it is like leaving a second home, so much so that I already find myself missing Falfurrias.

Erica

Texas State University

As previously mentioned, the UIndy team had the opportunity to visit the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State University (FACTS).  The majority of the unidentified migrants from Brooks County go to Texas State University to continue the identification process.  The massive endeavor, called Operation Identification, is coordinated by Dr. Kate Spradley. Unfortunately Dr. Spradley was not in town on the day of our visit, but we did get to spend time with Dr. Danny Wescott, director of FACTS.

Hailey standing in a field giving an explanation with a visible fencing in the background
Hailey Duecker

Hailey Duecker, the graduate student assistant for Operation Identification, took the UIndy team and those Baylor students that wanted to see the facility on a tour. We began by seeing the Forensic Anthropology Research Facility (FARF).  The FARF is a 26 acre outdoor human decomposition research laboratory that also serves as a reservoir for the unidentified individuals as they await processing and analysis.  Hailey showed us the donated bodies that are used to study various aspects of the decomposition process, as well as the area of the FARF dedicated to Operation Identification.  Being a native Texan I had been to San Marcos before (mostly to tube in the river) but I was still shocked by the temperature. The sun felt just as hot as it had in Falfurrias. It will be interesting to see if the research coming out of the FARF can assist with time since death (postmortem interval or PMI) estimates for the individuals discovered on the ranches in Brooks County.  Any additional information about these individuals could potentially help with the identification process.

Shoulders down of the group walking away with blue booties around their shoes Next, Hailey took us on a tour of the Osteological Research and Processing Laboratory (ORPL) located at the Freeman Ranch Multi-Purpose Facility.  At ORPL the remains are processed by volunteers.  Once the skeletons are clean, they are analyzed and a biological profile (reconstruction of the decedent’s living characteristics) is constructed by the forensic Anthropologists at FACTS. In addition, samples are taken for DNA and isotope analysis. Associated personal effects are cleaned, cataloged and stored  as these can be important clues to the identity of the individuals carrying them.  Finally, the unidentified are prepared for curation until an identification is made and repatriation can be conducted.

Texas State University, like the other educational institutions participating in the identification of the undocumented migrants,  rely on volunteers (qualified faculty and students), as well as donations to participate in this mission.  The processing of one individual can take several weeks and as a result they have been working around the clock on the individuals exhumed last year and still have a backlog.  Add a portion of the individuals exhumed this summer and they are in need of support. Last summer Ryan spent several weeks at FACTS volunteering to process after we returned from the field. We are encouraging the Baylor students as well as other qualified students that have had osteology to volunteer in this effort. Additionally, the center could use monetary donations and donations of PPE (personal protective equipment).  The exhumations conducted by the University of Indianapolis and Baylor University are just the first part of the journay towards identification.

~KEL