The Missing Migrants with Will Grant Our World


The Missing Migrants with Will Grant

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of migrants found in the desert and return them to their families for

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burial. Be US`Mexico border. Every year,

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thousands of migrants try to cross illegally into the US in search of a

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better life. As US authorities tighten up border security, more and

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more migrants are risking their lives by crossing through remote

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desert regions. Many do not make it. In the past ten years, over 2000

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unidentified bodies have ended up at this morgue in Arizona alone. I

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think of it as the smell of death. It is the smell of our death. I will

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grant and in this our world, I meet or remarkable woman who has

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dedicated years of her life trying to identify the bodies of dead

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migrants and return them to their families. `` Our World.

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We need migrants preparing to make the illegal border crossing, despite

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the dangers of a long track in searing temperatures.

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Tucson, Arizona. Desert city just north of the border with Mexico, it

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has a unique and growing problem. The Pima County morgue has seen a

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huge increase in the number of bodies it has received over the past

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decade. So much so that Tucson now has the third`highest number of

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unidentified human remains in the United States, after New York and

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Los Angeles. Many are now just delete all remains. Almost all were

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migrants who have succumbed to heat, exhaustion, or dehydration in

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the desert. Here we have the right shoulder blade, a piece of the right

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clavicle. This is a probable male that was found in the desert in

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2013, from last year. The colour of the burn is white. That is because

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it has been on the surface of the desert and exposed to the sun. Also

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the drying up from being exposed to the sun causes the bone to fracture.

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If we look at this bone here, the left femur, we can see this fracture

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running through that. This doctor has a pathologist tag the body as

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John Doe or Django until the name is discovered. We have had 2300 main

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since 2001, people we believe to be migrants. We have identified 65%. We

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still had 800 ` 850 who are unidentified. If you contrast that

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to other mass fatality events like a plane crash, the identification rate

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usually goes up a lot but you then have a manifest of who should be on

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the aircraft and you just have to determine who is who. We do not have

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that here. Instead, the burden of identification has fallen upon Robin

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Meineke and her small team across the corridor. She arrived here as an

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anthropology student in 2006. I really came here to learn and I

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basically did not realise that I was walking into a mass disaster setting

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and saying, hey, can I study what you are doing and I was handed a

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stack of work. From there, it has been an incredible honour to take

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this on as my main job. Robin inherited a fledgeling programme

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which has now expanded into a non`profit human rights

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organisation. They painstakingly match missing `` missing person

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dated with the frantic records of bodies found in the desert. It has

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become a personal mission for Robin. I lost my father very suddenly and

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unexpectedly. That changed everything. I could recognise that

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the families were facing something that most people would not

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understand. I bring that point `` from that point, I began to pull

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myself into the work. That work is piling up. Each file represents a

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body that the team is trying to identify. This is a case from 2006,

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still unidentified. Sound June 20. We rely heavily on the frantic

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anthropology report. There is some information in here that, one day,

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if somebody comes forward looking for a family member, it made trigger

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memory that there is information in here which could be linked to that?

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Exactly. Some of the most poignant clues to identification other

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possessions found with the bodies. `` are the. There are three cards

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are there, thank on, Saint Benedict is, St Peter. A wooden rosary. Some

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US dollars. Of course, they were hoping to be able to use them in

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this country. It is quite pathetic little site, it is very simple,

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humble, handful of possessions. I spend a lot of time looking at the

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items. It is powerful. I know how powerful they can be for the

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investigation and to the family. We think of them as sacred items but on

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the other hand, you or I would not want to be defined by the things we

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happen to be carrying our pocket, the day we happened to pass away.

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Most of the bodies are found here, the Sonoran Desert. The hottest

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desert in North America, the summer temperatures can reach 50 Celsius.

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It is a vast area that stretches from the south`west of the US to the

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Mexican coast. For migrants crossing illegally into the US, they need to

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track for several days. If they get lost or injured or run out of

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supplies, the result is often fatal. Once you are outside in this

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wilderness, you begin to get a sense of the sheer number of factors you

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would have to contend with, trying to cross it. It is the hit`out here.

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The spiders and rattlesnakes we are told are raw round us, and of course

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you would need enough food and water to get through. It does not surprise

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me that a vast number of people run into trouble somewhere along the

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line. The Mexican side of the border are

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small groups of migrants, including women and young children, huddled in

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makeshift shelters. They have often pay thousands of dollars to criminal

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gangs to reach this point but the hardest part lies ahead. Here, they

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must wait for their guides to lead them across the desert.

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That this is where so many of the migrants' dreams end. In the

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summer, unfortunately, when so many people are dying in the desert, this

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would be completely. Oftentimes, we have to use an overflow cooler to

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save the remains. This place has quite a smelter would. These people

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have been preserved and capped so that somewhere along the line,

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families could receive these remains and dignify them with burials?

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Exactly. The smell is still hard to me. I think of it as the smell of

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death, of bad debt. `` death. Illegal immigration is an immensely

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sensitive political issue in the United States. An estimated 12

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million people currently live in the US without the proper paperwork.

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Around 8 million of those are from Mexico alone. Since the mid`19 90s,

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consecutive US governments have poured billions of dollars into

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border Security, a move popular with many voters. The fence erected by

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the United States has been extended and strengthened. Critics say that

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this is one of the main reason is that so many migrants are now dying.

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The border in urban areas has become almost impenetrable and it is, they

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say, has pushed migrants to cross the fence in less secure debt ``

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desert regions. It was not a dangerous place for migrants until

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the border policies and shifted. This office, there were an average

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of 12 bodies found per year believed to be migrants before the year 2000.

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From 2001, the average goes up to 165. So what changed their was a

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massive influx border patrol and military infrastructure.

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The US border patrol has one of the biggest budgets of any federal

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agency. They had over 20,000 agents patrolling the Mexican border and

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are equipped with the latest surveillance technology. Their

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mission is simple. Our role is somewhat 1`dimensional in that the

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only thing we do is stop people from coming through between point of

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entry. It does not matter if you have a Visa or not, you have to

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present yourself for inspection. The agency rejects suggestions that the

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militarisation of the border has caused migrants' deaths. They argue

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that the blame lies with Mexican organised crime. Unfortunately for

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those crossing illegally, they are in the hands of criminal

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organisations who have no regard for human life. They will do anything

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they can to essentially extort these people and to get as much money as

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they can offer these people. Women that are out in this environment are

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facing being raped. Everyone who is out here is looking at death right

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in the eye, whether at the hands of somebody who might rob them of the

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worst against them or just being out in this hostile environment. There

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is very little water. It is tough to survive out here even if you are

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well`equipped which most of these people are not.

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At night, most people try to cross. Not only migrant are they after.

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Stopping the illegal drug trade is also part of their work. We

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understand there is someone in this area who is believed to have been

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trying to take marijuana across the border. The border patrol is trying

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to chase down one of the 2`man team. `` patroller. Within the space of

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barely two Alice, they have picked up a group of suspected drug

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traffickers with them marijuana and separately, a group of would`be

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migrants who had hopped over the fence and they pick them up almost

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as soon as they hit United States soil `` hours. So far, it has been a

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successful evening for them. It is the border patrol who also find most

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of the migrant s' bodies. With the high number of deaths, there are

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thousands in Mexico and Central America who have been affected. I

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travelled south to Mexico to meet one of them. I am driving into an

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area called Beautiful Village, although in many ways it is anything

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but. We are going to meet the mother of a 19`year`old immigrant who lost

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his life in the desert in Arizona. Carolyn Chan is a full`time mother

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with a passion for songwriting and music. She runs a happy, chaotic

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home full of children and grandchildren. One person is missing

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from this scene, her son, Marco Antonio.

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One day, in July 2012, he disappeared without saying goodbye.

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Carolyna desperately began searching for him. Then she heard one of his

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friends who left with him was back in town. She went to talk to him.

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Marco had been with a group in the desert, but was left behind when he

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could not keep up with them. Undeterred by this news, Carolina

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continued her search, checking missing persons website, contacting

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migrant shelters. Eventually, her determination led her here to the

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team in Tucson. They added Marco's details to their database.

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Initially, there was no match. But, six months after he disappeared,

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Carolina received an e`mail. There was a potential new lead.

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That e`mail contained a photo of a pair of trousers found on a body

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that seemed to match information that Carolina had supplied. Shortly

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before Marco crossed, his father had loaned him a pair of camouflage

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pants for the journey. His father is a little bit bigger and so he

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removed a button and adjusted the pants so that they could be a little

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bit tighter for Marco. That was the key identifying feature for the

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mother ? That is what convinced her. She insisted on DNA testing to prove

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it was indeed Marco Antonio's body. Although Carolina and Robert have

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never met, families such as Carolina's are often extremely

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grateful for what Robin does. It breaks my heart how intensely they

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would be suffering. When they are informed of a death, they feel

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thankful `` Robyn. I can't imagine being thankful to the person who

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told me that my father died. Here, a small, dusty Mexican border

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town on the edge of the desert. It is thought to be where Marco Antonio

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set out on his journey to the United States. As plenty of others do. The

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whole town revolves around the legal border trade and dozens of shops

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cater to migrant needs. Crossing the desert into the north is no small

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undertaking and any would`be migrant would need certain key survival

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things. Certainly a hat, to protect from the sun. Of course,

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camouflage, to also hide you from the US border patrol. Some vital

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first aid and toiletries and then, most extraordinarily, something I

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have never seen before, carpet slippers. You slip fees over your

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shoes and when you walk, he leaves no footprints in the sand. `` you

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leave. Before setting off on the treacherous journey, many migrants

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come to the church to ask the virgin of Guadeloupe eight, the patron

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saint of Mexico for protection in the desert. Some would need more

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than just that to make it to the United States. In our plan, waiting

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a loan to be taken to the board itself, I found this 15`year`old

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from Guatemala `` a van. He showed me what he was taking. A blanket and

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carpet slippers to get through. Somehow, this collection of items

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was supposed to get him across the desert. It is tragic and

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heartbreaking. I have seen the part of Guatemala

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where he is from and it is extremely, extremely poor. It is

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very rural. It is a very tough life. Waiting in a hostel for homeowner to

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cross is this woman. She broke her leg on her last attempt to enter the

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US. That will not deter her. She spent many years in the United

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States. Her children were born there and she is desperate to return.

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Do you feel frightened about going through the desert and everything

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involved with that? For Carolina, that journey has only

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brought sadness to her family. She has written a song especially for

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her son, Marco Antonio, called, I am going to ask God for five more

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minutes. She has at least been able to give

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her son a decent burial thanks to Robyn's efforts. Her advice to

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others thinking of making the same journey, is blunt.

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I think it is a beautiful desert. But, it is also a very tragic

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landscape. White Robyn and her team have helped to return hundreds of

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migrant bodies like Marco Antonio to their families `` Robyn. She is

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determined that their work affects a wider change. The number one thing

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is thinking a bout of the border more humanely . Human life needs to

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be part of the discussion. Human lives can be spared if people

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wanting to come and work did not have to walk through the desert ``

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about. No matter what one thinks of the rights and wrongs of entering

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the United States illegally, few would want to see so many deaths in

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the process. The irresistible little of a better life sits just across

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the border. For many, the temptation will be to great `` lure. `` too

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great. Hello. After a night with further

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torrential downpours and gusty wind, hail and flashes of lightning,

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the pattern will likely continue throughout the day on Saturday. We

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begin on a warm note

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