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Morgues in the southern border states of the United States such as Arizona and Texas are overwhelmed and cannot cope with processing and storing the bodies of undocumented migrants who have died in their desire to achieve the American dream.
Practically every day a person is reported drowned in the Rio Grande or ranchers discover a dead person on their property, Tom Schmerber, sheriff of Maverick County in Texas, told EFE.
On the morning of September 1, nine immigrants died while trying to cross the river in the Eagle Pass sector, which belongs to Maverick County, and 37 people were rescued from the waters in that incident.
Peruvian migrant Alan Vladimir Paredes Salazar, 38, was one of the deceased. His body was taken to the Webb County Medical Examiner’s Office, his family told EFE, who hope the body will be repatriated as soon as possible.
But the process could take time. The Webb County morgue can’t keep up with processing the bodies of migrants that constantly arrive from its border and neighboring counties.
Since last January and until the end of August, 218 migrant deaths have been registered in that county, surpassing the 196 deaths in 2021. Due to the increase in deaths last year, the county morgue purchased five portable refrigerators, which are already almost at capacity.
The morgue situation in Arizona’s border counties is no different. According to figures from the group Compassionate Borders, from last January to the end of August a total of 126 undocumented migrants have died at the border of that state.
Most of the deceased arrive at the Pima County morgue, where EFE took a tour.
The cold of the freezers and the smell of death greet those who cross the gigantic metal door of the chamber where only some of the bodies that have been found in recent months at the border are kept.
“We additionally have four containers that are located outside. Each one has a capacity for 80 bodies. At this moment, one of them is already at maximum capacity,” Gene Hernandez, a forensic investigator with the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office, told EFE.
The dimension of the tragedy is reflected in the dozens of white bags, all arranged inside the coolers, identified only with an orange card.
The desert is unforgiving
Each card shows several numbers indicating the date the body was found, the coordinates of the location, and whether it corresponds to a man or a woman.
The vast majority have only one word in common: “Unknown”.
“Identifying the body is one of the slowest and most difficult processes,” said Hernandez. He pointed out that one of the main obstacles is the advanced state of decomposition in which the remains arrive.
The Arizona desert is simply “unforgiving” and in a matter of days, the body decomposes to the point of “mummification” due to the high temperatures, or is devoured by animals.
One of the bodies inside the bags was only a dark brown skeleton. The skull no longer had teeth and in the part of the spine, you could still see remains of flesh, bone, and desert soil combined into a single mass.
“Sometimes we found birth certificates, IDs on the migrants’ clothes, but we can’t assume it’s really them,” said the researcher.
The office has more than a dozen cabinets filled with transparent bags where you can see some of these objects, ranging from photographs, letters, driver’s licenses, voter’s credentials, rosaries, jewelry, wallets, and cell phones.
Due to the lack of space and the continuous arrival of migrants’ bodies, the remains can only be kept in the freezers for four months. If they are not identified within this period, they are cremated and only a piece of bone is preserved for possible future identification using DNA analysis.
“The problem is that genetic testing is very expensive, and in order to make a positive identification the family must also provide a sample,” Hernandez explained.
According to the most recent figures from the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), during the current fiscal year, which ends on September 30, there have been nearly 750 deaths of undocumented migrants at the border with Mexico.
This is a new record that surpasses the 557 migrant deaths reported during the fiscal year 2021 by that federal agency.
