Thread: American Nightmare

American Nightmare

By Victor Castillo
Monday, November 17, 2008 at 7:11 a.m.


For many undocumented immigrants the American Dream begins when they put their feet on U.S. soil.

But for many others crossing the U.S./Mexico border turns into a nightmare.

Dan Doty, a U.S. Border Patrol Supervisor in the Rio Grande Valley Sector, said immigrants face dangerous elements when crossing the border. "First the river, then the brush, then the heat, and the animals, and all together it can create a very deadly situation."

Immigrants say, there are no jobs, no schools and no future in their home countries.

So they risk it their lives in their attempt to make things better back home.

But dozens to hundreds of them end up as skeletal remains or bodies in an advanced state of decomposition with no one to claim them.

For Miriam Medel, Mexico's Vice-Consul in McAllen, it's a human tragedy.

"When people are trying to cross they don't realize that they are putting their life at the highest risk," she said.

Action 4 News has followed several examples:

In July of 2007, the body of a female is found just outside of a ranch located north of Sullivan City.
Four months later, dogs bring in a disturbing morning to their owner when they brought over a human skull to the house.
Roma Police searched the field across from the home and found the rest of the decomposed body.
Two weeks later, full skeletal remains of a young female are found along Arroyo Los Olmos in Rio Grande City.
Doty with the Border Patrol said the Rio Grande claims many lives but the river is not the only place where immigrants have died.
Many lose their lives in the brush country of deep South Texas.

"So you twist an ankle, you fall down, you may hit your head on a rock, you could hit your head on a tree, the dangers are there," Doty said.

Law enforcement agencies notify the Mexican Consulate Offices when bodies are discovered.

But in many cases, there's no easy way to make a positve identification.

Webb County Medical Examiner Corinne Stern said she and her colleagues in other communities are the one left with those unidentified bodies.

"Not only do we get drownings, we get several cases especially right now of hipothermia or heat stroke," she said.

Stern faces a delicate and complicated problem: What to do with John Does or immigrants who end up eventually in anonymous pauper's graves.

"It's heart-breaking, I mean these are all my patients, I'm a doctor and these are my patients," she said. "It's very hard because I can diagnose why they died at the autopsy table, but, I don't have any family member to relay that to."

The bodies are stored on rolling gurneys in the walk-in refrigerator.

Webb County officials try to make space the best they can but the coolers are completely full.

"I can't put their family members at ease where they can have some closure, because one, they may have not know that their loved one has died, that he or she died while they were attempting to cross, or they may be looking for them but not knowing where they crossed," Stern said.

Bodies are kept in the county morgue for about 60 days, just in case someone comes forward, but Dr. Stern takes samples of blood and bone before burial.

Action 4 News cameras captured the moment when an immigrant is laid to rest in Laredo, four empty chairs and noone to say good bye.

Funeral home director Fred Dicky said it's a sad situation.

"It's kind of sad because usually the people who we do bury, they're unidentified, no family members, families will never truly have closure," the Laredo-area funeral director said.

A small metal plate is placed at the gravesite with what little is known about the dead.

The grave filmed by Action 4 News read: John Doe, May 23rd, 2008.

No agency is in charge with tracking what happens to the remains of undocumented immigrants who die along the border.

The Mexico's Consulate Office in McAllen had registered 59 deaths between Roma and Progreso from January to September 2008. Officials said that's 20 more deaths than all of 2007.

"This year we have of the 59, we have around 25 people with no documents whatsoever, that we have not been able to identify," Medel told Action 4 News.

Border Patrol statistics show that an average of 433 undocumented immigrants die every year.

Officials said there the number of deaths in the Valley and deep South Texas increased from 55 in fiscal year 2005 to 97 in fiscal year 2008.

Border Patrol officials said the deadliest zones in the Rio Grande Valley are the ranch areas in Brooks, Kennedy, and Jim Hogg Counties.

That's a rural area where immigrants walk for days to try to evade the Falfurrias or the Sarita security checkpoints.

The second deadliest zone is the Rio Grande River itself.

http://www.kgbt4.com/news/news_story.aspx?id=223007

Immigrants say, there are no jobs, no schools and no future in their home countries.

So they risk it their lives in their attempt to make things better back home.

Then they should be marching,protesting and DEMANDING in their home countries! They should be doing all they can to make their lives better IN their home countries, instead of running away to lie, cheat and steal in MY country!

What I don't get is they're brave enough to risk their lives to get to America, but they're not brave enough to demand change in their own countries. And of course once they get here their demanding everything! Wheres the logic?

Originally Posted by Cliffdid

What I don't get is they're brave enough to risk their lives to get to America, but they're not brave enough to demand change in their own countries. And of course once they get here their demanding everything! Wheres the logic?

It's actually quite simple. Their countries of orgin (mainly mexico) would not tolerate their demands and they know it! These people have no desires to change anything in their countries of orgin. Why should they when they can simply invade our country, whereby they have an endless advocacy(many in our own government) fighting on their behalf to ensure that their every demand is satisfied! The ones invading our country are the worst of the worse!

Coming to this country illegally is not an act of "bravery," it's an act of cowardice! The brave are the ones who remain in their country and continue to fight, irrespective of the hardships they have to endure.