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

by Jason De León

“well-defined social process whereby migrants draw upon various sources of human and social capital to overcome barriers erected by US authorities.”

as many as 90 percent of women who attempt to cross undocumented into the United States through northern Mexico suffer sexual assault,

Contributing to this dehumanization is the fact that the Sonoran Desert is remote, sparsely populated, and largely out of the American public’s view.

Border crosser deaths are justified by a person’s lack of citizenship (i.e., exceptional status), his or her commission of a civil offense,

A manipulated dead body can also be a vector for violent messages directed at the living.

“Hey García, these fucking cows are skinny, man! Look how ugly these cows are! Gringos have fat cows! Gringos have good-looking cows! You bastard! These goddamn cows are Mexican!

as well as important forms of resistance and migrant identity construction.8

Close to two decades of research has shown that boundary enforcement efforts play only a minimal role in discouraging people from attempting to cross the border and that social and economic factors are the key determinants of trends in migration rates.

They are in most ways fairly typical examples of undocumented border crossers. They are male, lack formal education, have crossed the border multiple times, and have been fully incorporated into the US undocumented labor force for years.