Volunteers help find victims of the desert
Simon Romero
Illegal crossings are down sharply on the southwest border, but the number of people dying is climbing. At least 412 migrants were found dead in 2017, from 398 the previous year. Exposure to extreme heat or drowning in irrigation canals causes many of the deaths. With the expansion of the Border Patrol pushing immigrants further into remote territory, forensic researchers say the number of deaths may be much higher. As the search began, temperatures were approaching 100 degrees, and wildfires scorched the desert nearby.
We scoured a stretch of federal land that was desolate and futuristic; huge wind turbines towered above the brittlebush. Normally, the Águilas search in remote parts of Arizona, but on this quest we were only an hour from San Diego.
“I know the agony of losing a loved one to the desert,” Eli Ortiz, the group’s leader, said as we set out. He found the bodies of his brother and cousin in 2009.
I doubted they would find anything; the desert around the Carrizo Gorge Wilderness is vast and forbidding. But their planning was meticulous. They used satellite images, GPS mapping and intelligence from Border Patrol and smuggling networks.
Occasionally, family members who contact Águilas on Facebook go along. Rafael Luna, 50, said his brother went missing two months ago. “He was left out here to die,” Luna said.
José Genis González, 33, is a Navy vet, and trained as an EMT. He crossed with his parents when he was 2. After another volunteer picked up the scent of a body, González rushed to the grisly scene.
There was a body decomposing in the desert.
Next to the body, they found a prayer card with the image of St. Peter, thought to protect migrants from harm, and a Mexican ID card bearing the name of Adrián Luna, Rafael’s brother.
I wasn’t prepared for what happened next. Luna began shouting, “My brother, my brother!” before collapsing. His wails echoed across the empty hinterland.
The Águilas don’t always find a body. And volunteers face challenges that include snake bites and exhaustion.
Volunteers placed a simple Most Águilas are immigrants themselves: maids, gardeners, combat veterans, construction workers. They find purpose in providing closure for families haunted by missing relatives. They’ve undertaken this gruesome task once a month for six years. wooden cross where they found the body. “The desert is like a lion, stalking both the strong and the weak,” said Ortiz.