On this Day of the Dead, we honor all migrants who have perished along the US-Mexico border and en route to the United States. Over the past two decades, more than 8,050 people have died along the US-Mexico border. Many more deaths go unrecorded. According to organizations such as Caolicion de Derechos Humanos and the South Texas Human rights Center, official figures do not include the thousands of migrants who are still missing and have been unable to establish contact with their families — migrants become lost and stranded in the desert and mountains, others perish as a result of drownings, heat, and exhaustion, and many are traveling with minors. Anti-immigrant policies, compounded with militarized technologies, push migrants to take dangerous and inhospitable routes leading to disappearances. When people go missing, their families face devastating psychological damage. They are also confronted with a web of bureaucratic and legal barriers, including morgues, medical examiners, forensic pathologists, embassies, and consular offices trying to find their missing loved ones. There are no border-wide protocols to find missing migrants or reunify their remains with their families. Militarized migration management is also creating a human rights crisis with tragic consequences for border communities. Southern Border Communities Coalition found that since 2010, more than 245 people have died at the hands of Border Patrol agents. Among those is the death of 42-year-old Anastasio Hernández, who was tortured and killed by Border Patrol agents in May 2010. | |
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