WEBVTT 1 00:00:00.560 --> 00:00:04.840 Dear listener a content warning. The next few minutes are 2 00:00:04.960 --> 00:00:07.120 of a nine to one one call with a person 3 00:00:07.240 --> 00:00:10.960 in distress. At about eleven thirty on a Monday morning 4 00:00:11.039 --> 00:00:14.440 in July of twenty twenty one, a woman in southern 5 00:00:14.520 --> 00:00:18.040 Arizona calls nine to one one from her cell phone. 6 00:00:20.239 --> 00:00:20.880 Lasanas. 7 00:00:21.280 --> 00:00:22.360 She's loves her Vedencia. 8 00:00:25.280 --> 00:00:29.800 She's in the Sonora Desert. She's all by herself, and 9 00:00:30.280 --> 00:00:39.640 she's lost Mina. The woman is put on hold. That's 10 00:00:39.680 --> 00:00:43.080 because she's a migrant crossing the border from Mexico to 11 00:00:43.120 --> 00:00:49.280 the United States. Then the dispatcher follows protocol and transfers 12 00:00:49.320 --> 00:00:52.880 her call from the local sheriff's office in Pima County, 13 00:00:52.920 --> 00:00:55.720 Arizona to the US Border Patrol. 14 00:00:56.720 --> 00:01:02.760 Let's have a Mexican phone number. 15 00:01:03.880 --> 00:01:12.080 She's begging the dispatcher to send help. Eventually she's found 16 00:01:12.240 --> 00:01:15.440 and picked up by border patrol, but calls like this 17 00:01:15.520 --> 00:01:20.520 happen all the time in southern Arizona. In some cases 18 00:01:21.040 --> 00:01:25.880 like this, the lucky outcome actually is the caller being located, 19 00:01:26.319 --> 00:01:32.319 then detained by border patrol, and ultimately deported. But many 20 00:01:32.319 --> 00:01:35.760 other times border crossers are never rescued by border patrol, 21 00:01:36.280 --> 00:01:39.520 and they succumb to the blistering heat in the Sonora Desert. 22 00:01:40.760 --> 00:01:44.560 As of November of twenty twenty one, Humane Borders, a 23 00:01:44.680 --> 00:01:50.120 local organization, has counted nearly four thousand people whose remains 24 00:01:50.520 --> 00:01:54.280 have been recovered after dying trying to cross this vast 25 00:01:54.440 --> 00:02:00.680 stretch of land. Many more have died have yet to 26 00:02:00.720 --> 00:02:10.480 be found. From PRX and Futuro Media, It's Latino USA. 27 00:02:10.639 --> 00:02:13.160 I'm Maria Josa Today. 28 00:02:13.680 --> 00:02:18.040 Death by Policy at the Arizona Border a story by 29 00:02:18.080 --> 00:02:22.399 our new unit Futuro Investigates into how the United States 30 00:02:22.440 --> 00:02:28.040 own policies are purposely leading to death. For over a year, 31 00:02:28.080 --> 00:02:32.040 Fordudo Investigates has been digging into public information to understand 32 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:50.200 this crisis in the Arizona Desert. 33 00:02:51.040 --> 00:03:01.440 Diam It's just passed for a m On a warm 34 00:03:01.560 --> 00:03:05.720 Saturday morning in September of twenty twenty one, Latino USA 35 00:03:05.800 --> 00:03:10.480 producers Julieta Martinelli and jess Albarenga have just arrived at 36 00:03:10.520 --> 00:03:14.760 a tiny gas station in Ajo, Arizona, a small town 37 00:03:14.960 --> 00:03:16.960 just minutes from the US Mexico border. 38 00:03:17.880 --> 00:03:20.280 Over by one of the gas pumps, they meet a 39 00:03:20.320 --> 00:03:24.520 man named Anghill. Anghill is originally from Mexico. He's in 40 00:03:24.520 --> 00:03:28.520 his forties. He has a warm, shy smile, and well 41 00:03:29.320 --> 00:03:34.160 he looks pretty tired. Boy CoFe Anghill is one of 42 00:03:34.200 --> 00:03:37.920 the leaders of the Blue Armadillos Search and Rescue team. 43 00:03:38.160 --> 00:03:41.480 There are a group of volunteers from southern California who 44 00:03:41.560 --> 00:03:45.600 drive out into the Arizona Desert every month to search 45 00:03:45.640 --> 00:03:48.760 for people who may have lost their way crossing the border. 46 00:03:48.800 --> 00:03:52.400 In this region, it's known by Border Patrol as the 47 00:03:52.400 --> 00:03:58.400 Tucson Sector. Today, Anghil drove to Ajo with eight other volunteers. 48 00:03:58.840 --> 00:04:05.040 They were all wearing matching royal blue long sleeved shirts. 49 00:04:06.080 --> 00:04:06.360 Is there. 50 00:04:08.200 --> 00:04:10.960 The Blue Armadillos are heading out to search for a 51 00:04:11.000 --> 00:04:15.640 young man from Onduras who recently disappeared in the Sonoran Desert. 52 00:04:16.240 --> 00:04:33.400 His name is johnnys Ok. Caria Ki says Johnny's family 53 00:04:33.560 --> 00:04:37.320 called the Blue Armadillos after getting a phone call letting 54 00:04:37.360 --> 00:04:41.120 them know that Johnny had been left behind in the desert. 55 00:04:41.800 --> 00:04:44.960 They believe the caller was the guide that Johnny was 56 00:04:45.000 --> 00:04:48.919 crossing with. All he said was that Johnny couldn't keep walking. 57 00:04:49.440 --> 00:04:57.280 He then gave them a coordinate and hung up and 58 00:04:57.480 --> 00:04:59.400 held taps a point on the map. 59 00:04:59.839 --> 00:05:00.240 He he says. 60 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:04.720 Today's goal is to make it here. He warns our 61 00:05:04.800 --> 00:05:08.360 team it's going to be a pretty tough weekend. Even 62 00:05:08.360 --> 00:05:10.720 though it's September. The heat is set to hit one 63 00:05:10.800 --> 00:05:14.920 hundred and ten during the daytime. It'll be nearly thirty 64 00:05:14.960 --> 00:05:19.000 miles round trip on foot through the desert with little 65 00:05:19.200 --> 00:05:22.800 shade and only the water that they can carry on 66 00:05:22.920 --> 00:05:31.520 their backs. Today's mission is on the Devil's Highway. The 67 00:05:31.520 --> 00:05:35.240 Devil's Highway is a historic two hundred and fifty mile 68 00:05:35.440 --> 00:05:39.080 road that passes through some of the most remote and 69 00:05:39.160 --> 00:05:43.200 inhospitable terrain of the Sonoran Desert. While most of the 70 00:05:43.240 --> 00:05:47.119 Arizona border with Mexico is separated by the border wall, 71 00:05:47.720 --> 00:05:51.000 this area is so expansive that the wall hasn't been 72 00:05:51.040 --> 00:05:55.359 built here. Because of the high heat and endlessness of 73 00:05:55.440 --> 00:05:59.600 this vast terrain, border patrol is also less likely to 74 00:05:59.640 --> 00:06:02.960 be put trolling deep in the desert, and that's why 75 00:06:03.240 --> 00:06:06.800 so many people attempt to cross here. It's also why 76 00:06:06.920 --> 00:06:10.240 so many die, many of them coming all the way 77 00:06:10.240 --> 00:06:15.040 from South America Venezuela, Cuba, and Colombia, rushing to cross 78 00:06:15.240 --> 00:06:18.120 this open gap along the Yuma Arizona border. 79 00:06:18.279 --> 00:06:21.960 After walking three thousand kilometers from Guatemala. 80 00:06:22.040 --> 00:06:24.640 A migrant's journey ended in Arizona's desert. 81 00:06:24.680 --> 00:06:28.760 Demand dies attempting to cross the southwest border as he 82 00:06:28.839 --> 00:06:32.480 tries seeking asylum in the US near San Luis, Arizona. 83 00:06:34.240 --> 00:06:38.080 And that's why the Blue Armadillos keep on coming back. 84 00:06:48.000 --> 00:06:48.560 Thank your man. 85 00:06:53.839 --> 00:06:57.040 The Blue and Medillos have over thirty thousand followers on 86 00:06:57.080 --> 00:07:01.919 Facebook and nearly seventy thousand subscribe ers on YouTube. People 87 00:07:02.040 --> 00:07:05.000 learn about their work through word of mouth and the 88 00:07:05.080 --> 00:07:09.640 videos that they record and post after they finish their searches. 89 00:07:19.400 --> 00:07:22.200 The Blue Armadillos say the number of people who reach 90 00:07:22.240 --> 00:07:25.920 out asking for help to find their missing loved ones 91 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:32.640 is often just overwhelming. There are sometimes dozens of requests 92 00:07:32.840 --> 00:07:38.120 every week, but they are less than a dozen volunteers. 93 00:07:37.480 --> 00:07:38.400 With their group. 94 00:07:43.360 --> 00:07:48.920 In Amiliata. 95 00:07:51.120 --> 00:07:53.760 Gonzalo is one of those volunteers. 96 00:07:54.160 --> 00:07:57.600 Gonzalo tells us that groups like theirs are often the 97 00:07:57.680 --> 00:08:01.840 last and sometimes the only resort for desperate families who 98 00:08:01.880 --> 00:08:06.200 say they've called border patrol, they've called the Mexican Consulate, 99 00:08:06.400 --> 00:08:09.480 they've called the police, and they've gotten nowhere. 100 00:08:09.960 --> 00:08:16.440 See yepus compidasa supai. 101 00:08:16.600 --> 00:08:17.960 That's having on the start. 102 00:08:18.760 --> 00:08:22.760 The reality is conditions on this stretch of the border 103 00:08:23.240 --> 00:08:26.360 are so extreme that a person can die from heat 104 00:08:26.480 --> 00:08:32.680 exhaustion in just days or even hours. But Gonzalo says 105 00:08:33.080 --> 00:08:35.760 it's important to go out and do the search anyway, 106 00:08:36.160 --> 00:08:39.560 even if only to help get a missing person's remains home. 107 00:08:41.160 --> 00:08:45.239 Sometimes it takes weeks from the moment the Blue Armadillos 108 00:08:45.360 --> 00:08:49.480 get a call until they're able to travel from California 109 00:08:49.600 --> 00:08:55.320 to Arizona. They are entirely funded by donations. They have 110 00:08:55.360 --> 00:08:59.880 an active GoFundMe and routinely do events like selling tamalis 111 00:09:00.320 --> 00:09:03.960 to gather up funds. 112 00:09:03.720 --> 00:09:10.199 Wedding Marc Let's say boy in Jesko I was. 113 00:09:11.160 --> 00:09:16.360 There is no financial reward for volunteering to search for 114 00:09:16.440 --> 00:09:20.720 lost people in the desert. There is only the sun, 115 00:09:21.440 --> 00:09:31.960 the sand, and the risk. Like the Blue Armadillos, a 116 00:09:32.080 --> 00:09:36.000 handful of other rescue groups volunteer in this area. 117 00:09:36.360 --> 00:09:37.920 They exist out. 118 00:09:37.679 --> 00:09:42.640 Of necessity because so many people have died or disappeared 119 00:09:42.679 --> 00:09:48.520 here and because so many continued to do so. Since 120 00:09:48.679 --> 00:09:51.959 the nineties, the Tucson sector has seen one of the 121 00:09:52.040 --> 00:09:57.280 highest rates of migrant debts reported per year. Between two 122 00:09:57.320 --> 00:10:01.920 thousand and two to twenty thirteen, the Tucson sector reported 123 00:10:02.280 --> 00:10:06.840 more deaths per year than any other place in the country. 124 00:10:07.760 --> 00:10:09.040 Over the last few years. 125 00:10:09.320 --> 00:10:12.439 It's come in right under the Rio Grande Valley and 126 00:10:12.559 --> 00:10:18.319 Laredo in Texas. Just last year, two hundred and twenty 127 00:10:18.360 --> 00:10:23.480 five remains were recovered here alone. But experts we spoke 128 00:10:23.559 --> 00:10:27.040 with say it's likely the death toll in the Sonora 129 00:10:27.040 --> 00:10:32.040 Desert is actually much higher, and that's because it's impossible 130 00:10:32.080 --> 00:10:35.120 to know exactly how many more people might have died 131 00:10:35.160 --> 00:10:39.880 here because the terrain is so vast and decomposition happens 132 00:10:40.200 --> 00:10:50.400 so quickly. To understand why and where the current humanitarian 133 00:10:50.440 --> 00:10:54.439 crisis started in Arizona, I went to meet with Reverend 134 00:10:54.600 --> 00:11:00.600 John Fife. Reverend Fife, John thing is you know I've 135 00:11:00.600 --> 00:11:05.040 been reporting about you for so long. For decades, Reverend 136 00:11:05.120 --> 00:11:08.080 John Fife has been calling attention to deaths in the 137 00:11:08.120 --> 00:11:13.640 Sonoran Desert. I first interviewed Fife in the late nineteen eighties. 138 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:18.800 Fife's church, south Side Presbyterian in Tucson, was one of 139 00:11:18.840 --> 00:11:22.160 the first to offer sanctuary to migrants and asylum seekers. 140 00:11:22.600 --> 00:11:26.280 We had been helping refugees across the border and bringing 141 00:11:26.320 --> 00:11:30.400 them here to the church. We thought very sacretically until 142 00:11:31.480 --> 00:11:34.440 one of the government lawyers of a political asylum hearing, 143 00:11:34.840 --> 00:11:37.320 talked to a lot of our lawyers and said, we 144 00:11:37.440 --> 00:11:39.400 know what those guys are up to, tell them to 145 00:11:39.440 --> 00:11:41.000 stop it, or will indict them. 146 00:11:42.000 --> 00:11:46.000 Reverend Fife and his partners suddenly found themselves embroiled in 147 00:11:46.080 --> 00:11:52.960 a federal investigation, facing prosecution real prison time for felony crimes, 148 00:11:53.040 --> 00:11:57.800 including human smuggling. But Fife doubled down on speaking publicly 149 00:11:57.840 --> 00:11:59.800 about what was happening in the desert. 150 00:12:00.240 --> 00:12:06.000 We built the sanctuary on the legal thesis that we 151 00:12:06.240 --> 00:12:10.040 had not only a legal responsibility, but an ethical and 152 00:12:10.240 --> 00:12:14.320 faith responsibility to protect refugees, and it was the government 153 00:12:14.400 --> 00:12:18.559 that was the criminal here. Then you can read it 154 00:12:19.720 --> 00:12:24.680 in their planning documents for their border enforcement strategy in 155 00:12:24.720 --> 00:12:28.840 the early nineties, particularly nineteen ninety three ninety four. 156 00:12:30.640 --> 00:12:33.960 Fife is referring to a document known as the Border 157 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:39.080 Patrol Strategic Plan of nineteen ninety four and beyond. This 158 00:12:39.520 --> 00:12:42.680 was the birth of the border patrol policies known as 159 00:12:43.120 --> 00:12:46.120 prevention through deterrence. 160 00:12:47.240 --> 00:12:49.120 To make it really simple. 161 00:12:49.520 --> 00:12:53.960 Early in his first term, President Bill Clinton faced bipartisan 162 00:12:54.000 --> 00:12:57.800 pressure to quote do something about the border. 163 00:12:58.240 --> 00:13:00.600 I signed a presidential director to the heads of all 164 00:13:00.640 --> 00:13:05.520 executive departments, instructing them to very quickly expand and strengthen 165 00:13:05.600 --> 00:13:09.559 our program to reduce illegal immigration in four key areas. 166 00:13:10.320 --> 00:13:16.160 He supported this policy of prevention through deterrens, which basically said, 167 00:13:16.600 --> 00:13:18.400 as five put it, we. 168 00:13:18.840 --> 00:13:24.280 Are actually planning that more people will die and using 169 00:13:24.679 --> 00:13:28.200 all those deaths and suffering in the desert as a 170 00:13:28.280 --> 00:13:30.480 deterrent to other people trying to cross. 171 00:13:31.120 --> 00:13:35.160 They did it by focusing resources and strengthening border patrol 172 00:13:35.240 --> 00:13:39.679 presence along most of the border, setting up roadblocks and 173 00:13:39.760 --> 00:13:44.720 making it much harder to cross elsewhere. This funneled people 174 00:13:44.760 --> 00:13:49.520 to the most geographically dangerous areas like the Sonora Desert, 175 00:13:49.960 --> 00:13:53.120 and that's how the number of deaths here just south 176 00:13:53.160 --> 00:13:58.000 of Tucson almost immediately climbed from just a handful to 177 00:13:58.120 --> 00:14:02.240 more than one hundred per year. Though it began while 178 00:14:02.240 --> 00:14:06.920 a Democrat was president, it remains a bipartisan effort. 179 00:14:07.480 --> 00:14:10.040 We have a responsibility to enforce our laws. 180 00:14:10.520 --> 00:14:12.760 We have a responsibility to secure our borders. 181 00:14:12.760 --> 00:14:15.800 When I took office, I committed to fixing this broken 182 00:14:15.800 --> 00:14:18.360 immigration system, and I began by doing what I could 183 00:14:18.360 --> 00:14:19.360 to secure our borders. 184 00:14:19.360 --> 00:14:24.160 They're bringing drugs, they're bringing crime, their rapists, and some 185 00:14:24.840 --> 00:14:26.080 I assume a good people. 186 00:14:27.800 --> 00:14:32.240 Three decades later, the deaths and disappearances seemed to be 187 00:14:32.320 --> 00:14:37.760 seen as just a nuisance, a necessary side effect, one 188 00:14:37.800 --> 00:14:41.840 the US government seems willing to accept under the guise 189 00:14:41.880 --> 00:14:45.480 of finding a so called cure to the issue of 190 00:14:45.600 --> 00:14:52.760 unauthorized migration. For what it's worth, Over the last decade, 191 00:14:52.960 --> 00:14:56.960 Border Patrol has in many ways tried to rebrand itself 192 00:14:57.040 --> 00:15:02.200 as a search and rescue organization, highlighting their quote life 193 00:15:02.360 --> 00:15:06.920 saving work in their recruitment ads and their news reports. 194 00:15:07.400 --> 00:15:11.080 The sanctity of human life is paramount, and we always 195 00:15:11.080 --> 00:15:13.280 place that above all of the priorities in our day 196 00:15:13.280 --> 00:15:15.840 to day duties and jobs that we do. I think 197 00:15:15.880 --> 00:15:18.560 it's important for the American people to know that the 198 00:15:18.600 --> 00:15:21.600 men and women of US Customs Border Protection are the 199 00:15:21.640 --> 00:15:24.040 most humane law enforcement agency in the country. 200 00:15:24.520 --> 00:15:27.480 At the same time, Border Patrol cites the number of 201 00:15:27.520 --> 00:15:32.200 debts caused by their own deterrence to request budget increases 202 00:15:32.600 --> 00:15:37.840 from Congress each year that's led to more money, more tools, 203 00:15:38.200 --> 00:15:45.200 more agents. Today, the Border Patrol's budget is nearly five 204 00:15:45.600 --> 00:15:50.400 billion dollars, and yet with all of that money, all 205 00:15:50.480 --> 00:15:54.960 of that technology, all of those agents, the Blue Armadillos 206 00:15:55.000 --> 00:16:02.880 still have to show up here twice a month. Coming 207 00:16:02.960 --> 00:16:06.320 up on Latino USA, we meet a woman whose mother 208 00:16:06.400 --> 00:16:10.320 went missing in the late nineteen nineties when deterrent policies 209 00:16:10.560 --> 00:16:13.880 were just ramping up, and we learn more about the 210 00:16:13.920 --> 00:16:18.080 ways the agency takes credit for desert rescues, all while 211 00:16:18.160 --> 00:16:22.120 volunteer groups take on the brunt of the most dangerous jobs. 212 00:16:22.960 --> 00:17:10.280 Our report from Futuro Investigates continues. Stay with us, Yes, hey, 213 00:17:10.640 --> 00:17:14.040 we're back. Before the break, we reported about how the 214 00:17:14.040 --> 00:17:18.560 border patrols own policies purposely funnel people hoping to cross 215 00:17:18.600 --> 00:17:22.360 into the United States through the deadliest terrain in the country, 216 00:17:22.760 --> 00:17:26.439 and we met the Blue Armadillos, a volunteer search and 217 00:17:26.480 --> 00:17:29.280 rescue group that's one of the only hopes for family 218 00:17:29.280 --> 00:17:39.639 members of the people who disappear on the border. We're 219 00:17:39.840 --> 00:17:44.800 back with the Blue Armadillos in the Sonora Desert. While 220 00:17:45.080 --> 00:17:48.199 en route to start the long trek to look for 221 00:17:48.280 --> 00:17:53.240 the Honduran man named Johnny, the Blue Armadillos car suddenly 222 00:17:53.320 --> 00:17:58.680 screeches to a halt. A young man has popped out 223 00:17:58.720 --> 00:18:01.320 from some shrubs on the side of the road. He's 224 00:18:01.320 --> 00:18:03.879 waving his arms and he looks incredibly weak. 225 00:18:04.160 --> 00:18:15.639 Oh shita buena bian benitos, who's that? 226 00:18:15.840 --> 00:18:23.280 Nacito Medico ask him if he knows where he is? 227 00:18:25.320 --> 00:18:30.080 No, the man can barely walk. He plops down on 228 00:18:30.119 --> 00:18:32.720 the floor by the car and then he closes his eyes. 229 00:18:35.720 --> 00:18:38.840 Minando. 230 00:18:40.200 --> 00:18:42.879 We're not sharing his name for his own protection. But 231 00:18:43.400 --> 00:18:48.160 he says he's tired and hurt. He's from Sinaloa, Mexico, 232 00:18:48.240 --> 00:18:51.480 and has been wandering in the desert for four days 233 00:18:51.520 --> 00:19:00.360 without water. The Blue Armadillos spring into action. They give 234 00:19:00.440 --> 00:19:04.840 him clean water, a sandwich, and medication. After he's rested, 235 00:19:04.920 --> 00:19:08.600 they ask if he wants to continue walking. The Armadillos 236 00:19:08.680 --> 00:19:12.760 won't stop him, but their ability to help is severely limited. 237 00:19:13.480 --> 00:19:16.560 The Blue Medillos tell our producers they've been warned by 238 00:19:16.560 --> 00:19:20.159 border patrol that they can be charged with smuggling for 239 00:19:20.280 --> 00:19:26.840 transporting a person. The only option they have is to 240 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:30.480 let the man continue on his way, or to call 241 00:19:30.600 --> 00:19:34.520 border patrol if he's too injured to walk. The problem 242 00:19:34.600 --> 00:19:38.160 is he will be detained if border patrol shows up. 243 00:19:39.840 --> 00:19:43.280 I said, okaycut with. 244 00:19:48.119 --> 00:19:52.639 The young man says he can't keep walking. He says 245 00:19:52.680 --> 00:19:56.720 he's ready to go home. We wait until an agent 246 00:19:56.880 --> 00:20:04.399 shows up and takes him into custody and Johnny, the 247 00:20:04.440 --> 00:20:08.800 Honduran man they were searching for. After two days and 248 00:20:08.840 --> 00:20:12.600 a night in the desert, our producers and the Armadillos 249 00:20:13.000 --> 00:20:27.760 return empty handed. He's still yet to be found. Before 250 00:20:27.840 --> 00:20:31.639 the Blue Armadillos and other rescue groups like them emerged 251 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:36.080 in the last decade or so, if someone disappeared crossing 252 00:20:36.119 --> 00:20:40.879 the desert, distraught family members had absolutely no one to 253 00:20:40.960 --> 00:20:47.560 turn to. Their only option was to just wait. Elena 254 00:20:47.640 --> 00:20:56.160 Gonsalez was one of them. In nineteen ninety seven, her mom, 255 00:20:56.760 --> 00:21:01.680 Maria Ophelia Munos Palinsuela, packed her bags and left their 256 00:21:01.720 --> 00:21:06.840 small town of Ignacio de la jab in Vera, Cruz, Mexico. 257 00:21:07.320 --> 00:21:13.760 She was headed north Erna Persona Keya Miko, Nosida Leisi 258 00:21:13.880 --> 00:21:18.840 and La Era Musiqura porque violes. 259 00:21:19.119 --> 00:21:22.959 Elena says her mom was beloved around town. She was 260 00:21:23.320 --> 00:21:28.359 super hard working, friendly, and oh so passionate about music. 261 00:21:31.800 --> 00:21:35.400 As happy as she seemed on the outside, things at 262 00:21:35.400 --> 00:21:39.360 home were turbulent. Elena's dad was an addict and violent. 263 00:21:39.800 --> 00:21:42.600 Elena's mom was the only one that worked, and they 264 00:21:42.640 --> 00:21:45.600 were always in a precarious financial position. 265 00:21:46.160 --> 00:21:52.320 Mi mamasi lake luto mamasa Mi. 266 00:21:52.400 --> 00:21:55.919 Casa as in a lot of places in Latin America. 267 00:21:56.440 --> 00:22:02.359 In Vera Cruz Aquin Sianerra or a fifteenth birthday celebration 268 00:22:02.920 --> 00:22:05.920 is an important rite of passage for a young woman. 269 00:22:06.600 --> 00:22:09.960 But a few months before Elena's kin Senea, her dad 270 00:22:10.000 --> 00:22:12.639 said they had no money and she wouldn't be getting 271 00:22:12.680 --> 00:22:13.320 a celebration. 272 00:22:13.640 --> 00:22:20.960 Ela Mirijomi not yatoya said to Fiesta Fiesta, komonun cala 273 00:22:21.040 --> 00:22:27.359 vista and Pelo yah parstas on needles. 274 00:22:27.680 --> 00:22:30.119 Elena says her mom told her not to worry, that 275 00:22:30.240 --> 00:22:32.439 she would make sure that Elena would have a party 276 00:22:32.640 --> 00:22:36.160 like no one in the town had ever seen. Then, 277 00:22:36.200 --> 00:22:38.720 her mom said she was heading to the US to 278 00:22:38.920 --> 00:22:40.480 work and send money home. 279 00:22:40.880 --> 00:22:49.879 Perro and Alfondo, Luis Somasrigistavo, Canzala del Maltrato, you know 280 00:22:50.040 --> 00:22:52.440 Conrad the correer. 281 00:22:53.320 --> 00:22:57.080 Elena says she knows deep down that the King Senira 282 00:22:57.520 --> 00:23:01.240 was just an excuse to leave. Her mom was desperate 283 00:23:01.320 --> 00:23:06.280 to escape her husband's abuse. At first, Elena's mom tried 284 00:23:06.320 --> 00:23:10.000 to cross through a known path in Texas, but she 285 00:23:10.119 --> 00:23:12.840 and her group that she was traveling with were detained 286 00:23:12.880 --> 00:23:17.760 by Border Patrol. Elena's mom called from the detention center. 287 00:23:18.280 --> 00:23:23.080 She said she was going to try again. So Elena 288 00:23:23.400 --> 00:23:29.480 waited and waited and waited for her mom's next phone call, 289 00:23:35.280 --> 00:23:40.880 VIENI no no no. As months passed, Elena became more 290 00:23:41.040 --> 00:23:44.520 and more desperate. She didn't know who to call or 291 00:23:45.080 --> 00:23:47.600 how to ask for someone to look for her mom. 292 00:23:50.920 --> 00:23:54.920 Elena wondered, how could her mother disappear. 293 00:23:55.160 --> 00:23:58.439 Just like that Ayak and missus Benanza Si. 294 00:24:01.200 --> 00:24:04.760 She began to lose hope that she'd ever know what 295 00:24:05.200 --> 00:24:10.680 happened to her mother. During the time that Elena's mom 296 00:24:10.800 --> 00:24:14.720 left Mexico in the late nineteen nineties until today, deaths 297 00:24:14.920 --> 00:24:19.960 on the border continue to increase, so has Border Patrols funding. 298 00:24:23.200 --> 00:24:28.480 Their current annual budget is about five billion dollars. For years, 299 00:24:28.640 --> 00:24:32.200 Border Patrol has touted the work of a special unit 300 00:24:32.640 --> 00:24:36.200 created more than three decades ago inside the Border Patrol. 301 00:24:36.920 --> 00:24:40.720 It's called the Border Patrol Search Trauma and Rescue Unit, 302 00:24:41.240 --> 00:24:46.800 or BORSTAR, and it's supposed to be dedicated to saving lives. 303 00:24:48.080 --> 00:24:51.679 But through a public records request we obtained we learned 304 00:24:51.720 --> 00:24:55.040 that Borstar's budget for fiscal year twenty twenty was a 305 00:24:55.119 --> 00:24:58.879 bit more than two point two million dollars. That's just 306 00:24:59.119 --> 00:25:03.360 a tiny fraction of the multi billion dollar budget set 307 00:25:03.400 --> 00:25:07.919 aside for enforcing the same policies that are leading people 308 00:25:08.400 --> 00:25:14.240 to disappear and die in the desert. An Inspector General 309 00:25:14.320 --> 00:25:19.359 report in twenty sixteen found that the effectiveness and cost 310 00:25:19.840 --> 00:25:27.639 of groups such as Borstar are actually unknown. Many people 311 00:25:27.720 --> 00:25:31.399 we spoke to in Arizona say these deaths do not 312 00:25:31.920 --> 00:25:36.520 need to happen in the first place, including someone who 313 00:25:36.680 --> 00:25:48.320 used to work inside the Border Patrol. In a dusty 314 00:25:48.440 --> 00:25:53.320 lot behind a cemetery with large gravestones and shady trees, 315 00:25:54.040 --> 00:25:58.480 I meet former Border Patrol agent Francisco Cantu. We're standing 316 00:25:58.600 --> 00:26:02.520 at a pauper's grave in Tucson, a burial site for 317 00:26:02.680 --> 00:26:04.440 those who couldn't afford a plot. 318 00:26:05.160 --> 00:26:06.919 You know, you wouldn't even know that there was anything 319 00:26:06.960 --> 00:26:07.360 over here. 320 00:26:07.960 --> 00:26:11.920 Gantu said he wanted to meet here because it's where 321 00:26:12.040 --> 00:26:16.280 unidentified migrants used to be laid to rest. It's a 322 00:26:16.400 --> 00:26:20.040 place that makes him question a lot of years of 323 00:26:20.119 --> 00:26:24.800 his life. Gandu worked for Border Patrol from two thousand 324 00:26:24.840 --> 00:26:29.560 and eight to twenty twelve, including in the Tucson sector. 325 00:26:30.200 --> 00:26:32.800 He later published a memoir about his time as an agent. 326 00:26:33.960 --> 00:26:37.080 He says he will never forget the first time he 327 00:26:37.200 --> 00:26:39.159 saw a dead person in the desert. 328 00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:43.639 I remember thinking, like, oh, like today's the day. Like 329 00:26:43.880 --> 00:26:46.320 it took a while, Like it took me longer than 330 00:26:46.359 --> 00:26:49.160 a lot of other people to see that first dead 331 00:26:49.200 --> 00:26:52.320 body in the desert. And there's stories that people tell about, 332 00:26:52.600 --> 00:26:54.480 you know, when you find your first dead body, like 333 00:26:54.640 --> 00:26:58.320 bring a canister of vis vapor rub with you, paparuf, 334 00:26:59.440 --> 00:27:01.440 and you put it under your nose so that you, 335 00:27:01.640 --> 00:27:03.399 you know, so that the smell doesn't get stuck in 336 00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:03.840 your nose. 337 00:27:04.720 --> 00:27:08.399 While he was an agent, Candu says, the notion of 338 00:27:08.600 --> 00:27:13.080 encountering a dead person, it was just part of the job. 339 00:27:14.040 --> 00:27:17.119 Agents are always telling stories about this to normalize the 340 00:27:17.200 --> 00:27:19.760 fact that you're going to find a dead body while 341 00:27:19.800 --> 00:27:21.240 you're walking through a desert. 342 00:27:22.119 --> 00:27:27.240 Gandhu says he now realizes this normalization of death was 343 00:27:27.400 --> 00:27:32.320 just part of the indoctrination that happens inside Border Patrol. 344 00:27:32.480 --> 00:27:35.080 From the moment that you show up at the Border 345 00:27:35.119 --> 00:27:39.119 Patrol academy the whole time the rhetoric is of danger, 346 00:27:39.840 --> 00:27:41.920 of you know, the people who are crossing the border 347 00:27:42.000 --> 00:27:45.119 presenting a threat, and that the people who are crossing 348 00:27:45.160 --> 00:27:49.640 the border are criminal, whereas the vast majority of these 349 00:27:49.720 --> 00:27:54.280 people are refugees, right They're in a humanitarian crisis, They're 350 00:27:54.320 --> 00:27:55.160 seeking safety. 351 00:27:56.320 --> 00:28:01.800 Candu says the indoctrination in the agency is almost necessary 352 00:28:02.160 --> 00:28:05.600 to do this type of work. And it's not lost 353 00:28:05.680 --> 00:28:09.560 on him that half of the border patrol are Latinos 354 00:28:09.760 --> 00:28:10.680 and Latinas. 355 00:28:11.720 --> 00:28:14.639 All of that serves to dehumanize the people who are 356 00:28:14.720 --> 00:28:18.640 coming across the border. And the fact that the only 357 00:28:18.720 --> 00:28:21.200 reason people are making this dangerous cross and the only 358 00:28:21.240 --> 00:28:23.040 reason that people are out in the middle of the 359 00:28:23.080 --> 00:28:25.680 desert where they need to be rescued, you know, is 360 00:28:25.760 --> 00:28:28.639 because of the enforcement practices and because of the policies 361 00:28:29.040 --> 00:28:31.920 right like prevention through deterrence, we can push people out. 362 00:28:32.280 --> 00:28:35.360 If we lock down this area, people will cross over there. 363 00:28:39.720 --> 00:28:42.000 I mean, I think we should be haunted by these. 364 00:28:41.880 --> 00:28:58.400 People, those who die in the desert and who are 365 00:28:58.600 --> 00:29:03.360 found and up At the Pima County Medical Examiner's Office 366 00:29:03.840 --> 00:29:13.120 in Tucson. Since the year two thousand, this office has 367 00:29:13.240 --> 00:29:17.760 processed more than three thousand six hundred remains of people 368 00:29:17.880 --> 00:29:21.640 believed to have died crossing the border into the United States. 369 00:29:22.520 --> 00:29:27.520 Because hundreds of new remains are recovered every year, and 370 00:29:27.600 --> 00:29:32.760 because most of them remain unidentified, the medical examiner's office 371 00:29:33.440 --> 00:29:35.240 has run out of space. 372 00:29:35.960 --> 00:29:37.880 You's got to let people have their thing. 373 00:29:42.040 --> 00:29:45.760 Doctor Gregory has is the medical examiner right now. He 374 00:29:45.920 --> 00:29:49.880 tells me most of the remains they find are stored 375 00:29:50.400 --> 00:29:56.080 in cardboard boxes inside an eighteen wheeler truck that's parked 376 00:29:56.640 --> 00:29:59.440 right behind the building we're in right now. 377 00:30:00.080 --> 00:30:02.280 If it's close to a full set of skelter remains, 378 00:30:02.320 --> 00:30:06.000 it's basically one person in a box. If they're fragmented 379 00:30:06.120 --> 00:30:08.920 or partial skelter remains, we can put multiple sets or 380 00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:09.840 remains in a box. 381 00:30:10.440 --> 00:30:13.960 The problem is that most of the remains are never cleaned, 382 00:30:14.640 --> 00:30:18.160 and that's because it can be really difficult to recover 383 00:30:18.400 --> 00:30:22.840 DNA from skeletal remains and even harder to match them 384 00:30:23.160 --> 00:30:25.440 to family outside of the United States. 385 00:30:26.120 --> 00:30:28.640 So this is a humorous or the bone from an 386 00:30:28.760 --> 00:30:31.040 upper arm. This end of the bone has been kind 387 00:30:31.080 --> 00:30:36.320 of chewed off by animal activity. So what are the 388 00:30:36.360 --> 00:30:39.280 odds of us identifying this person in a timely manner? Again, 389 00:30:39.360 --> 00:30:39.920 not very good. 390 00:30:44.640 --> 00:30:48.960 The Arizona Desert has become a de facto bone yard 391 00:30:49.360 --> 00:30:54.000 for the United States. Just days or even hours after 392 00:30:54.160 --> 00:30:58.560 a person dies, their bones can be scattered miles and 393 00:30:58.720 --> 00:31:02.680 miles apart by birds of prey or other animals. It 394 00:31:02.800 --> 00:31:06.800 often takes years for remains to be discovered. By the 395 00:31:06.920 --> 00:31:11.920 time they're found, bones are often completely bleached after so 396 00:31:12.120 --> 00:31:14.560 many years under the desert sun. 397 00:31:16.760 --> 00:31:20.000 This is going to be more complete. So these remains 398 00:31:20.000 --> 00:31:21.360 were recovered in twenty twenty. 399 00:31:23.680 --> 00:31:25.840 Goodness, and so, oh my goodness. 400 00:31:26.200 --> 00:31:28.680 Yeah, so here we have quite a bit more. 401 00:31:30.560 --> 00:31:30.600