The Land of Open Graves: Living and Dying on the Migrant Trail

On June 28, 2012, three students associated with the Undocumented Migration Project summer field school spend the day with volunteers from the Tucson Samaritans. Their research goal is to observe the organization’s humanitarian efforts and to collect ethnographic and archeological data on food and water depots in the desert. They meet a 19-year-old migrant named Carlos; he is from El Salvador. Carlos reports that a coyote got frustrated with people who were sick and couldn’t go as fast as the coyote wanted them to. He called out that Border Patrol agents were near and everyone scattered. One of the women from the group had been sick and vomiting and Carlos had gone to get help for her. No one caught her name.

When De León walked the trail in 2009, it was full of relics from border crossers. By 2010, these relics had either been cleaned up or disintegrated in the extreme conditions. On July 2, 2012, De León spontaneously decides to visit the old trail, accompanied by his students. One of De León’s students charges ahead of the group and runs back screaming that there is someone up there. It turns out to be the corpse of a woman. They call 911 and report that they have found a body while hiking.