Dead and Buried

Their remains lie covered by the sandy desert they trudged through in the hope for a better life. Now volunteers reveal the unimaginable extent of the missing migrant crisis

- DAN GOODING and BILLAL RAHMAN

THOUSANDS OF MIGRANTS HAVE died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border in recent years, with volunteers regularly finding piles of skeletal remains scattered across the desert often the only evidence of a life cut short attempting to reach America.

Human rights groups have long described the situation as an "unabated crisis," with the United Nations saying last September that around 686 deaths and disappearances had been recorded in the previous 12 months. Almost half of those nearly 700 deaths-which is likely a significant undercount-happened in the Sonoran and Chihuahuan deserts that straddle the border.

Volunteers head out into those deserts looking for the missing, filing reports on those they find and taking photos of the possessions and clothing found alongside as-yet unidentified human bones.

"I often feel pretty angry, that here I am on U.S. soil, on public land, and I've found the remains of a human," Abbey Carpenter, a volunteer with the Battalion Search and Rescue service, told Newsweek.

"I feel like, 'Here it is again, we found more remains. Here's another person that may remain nameless, that their family may never know what happened to their mother, their aunt, their father.'"

Carpenter has been volunteering for around a year with the group in New Mexico and Arizona, helping to find the remains of migrants who disappeared after crossing the U.S. border.

Hundreds Go Unreported

On just the 12 search missions Carpenter has joined, she has found the remains of around 35 people, their ages ranging from 10 to 67 years old.

"We find remains anywhere from one skeletonized bone to a field of skeletal remains which have been scattered by animals," Carpenter said. "There are often belongings around them as well-clothes, backpacks, personal items, cell phones. Those are often still there."