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I took an unusual road trip yesterday, to a cemetery near the Mexican border. There’s nothing inherently unusual about visiting a cemetery, of course, except that in this case, I didn’t know anyone who was buried there. Technically speaking, no one does.
Some people call it the Juan Doe cemetery. It’s a potter’s field: hundreds of anonymous paupers’ graves, unadorned save for a single, dun-colored brick assigned to each, spread across a few muddy acres of ground on the outskirts of a one-horse farm town a few miles from California’s border with Mexico — the kind of place where residents have grown accustomed to desperate strangers knocking on their doors in the dead of night to beg for food and water. They are undocumented migrants, and those that don’t survive their journeys and cannot be identified end up here, among the indigent dead of Imperial County. It’s a sad and symbolic place, and one I wanted to see for myself.
Just as these tragedies are largely hidden, so too are the graves. The Terrace Park cemetery looks like any other from the road, with its manicured grass, shade trees and neatly-tended plots.
Along the back of the cemetery, a narrow opening in the hedges reveals a long, muddy lane rutted by backhoes and bulldozers, which can dig and fill a pauper’s grave in just fifteen minutes. At the end of the lane, beyond a second row of weedy shrubs, lie the indigent, the undocumented, and the unknown.
As I walked down the lane, the breeze shifted and I was overwhelmed by a sudden stench. I was downwind, I realized with some relief, from a nearby feed lot.
A pauper’s burial costs about $1,000. That includes the brick, a simple wooden coffin, and a concrete grave-liner — stacks of which I noticed at a corner of the lot.
A group called the Border Angels visits the cemetery every so often to plant tiny wooden crosses and say prayers over the graves.
The only official signage are these cave-in warnings, planted every few rows.
It had just rained, and indeed, some of the graves were caving in. The wooden cross reads “No Olvidados,” or “Not Forgotten.”
These were not easy deaths. People interred here perished alone in moonscape deserts from heat exposure, suffocated in airless trucks, drowned in canals and rivers, were killed by wild animals, and were struck by lightning. There are even unconfirmed stories of migrants dying in explosions while being snuck through military bombing ranges.
Despite the fact that migration from Mexico has fallen off somewhat due to the recession, migrant deaths are still on the rise. Some of them, inevitably, will end up among these anonymous stones, or in the dirt lot adjacent, which sits empty, waiting for the dead.
Check out all the Strange Geographies columns here.
Comments (17)
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Thanks for this. It’s sad to see so many graves of people just trying to get to the US for a better life and instead meet death. I can only imagine what their families are feeling to not know what happened to their loved ones.
posted by Lore on 3-9-2010 at 6:26 pm
Hauntingly beautiful. God bless their souls.
Again, thanks for sharing your travels with amazing photos.
posted by izzi on 3-9-2010 at 6:52 pm
Yet another reason to secure our borders.
posted by doop on 3-9-2010 at 9:14 pm
As I see these pictures I think of many of my people that have met untimely deaths trying to get to the so called “Land of Opportunity” Having once been an undocumented immigrant I know the undying yearning to get to a place where the future is bright. May these and many others rest in peace.
posted by Kenia on 3-9-2010 at 10:00 pm
Stirring.
posted by elian on 3-9-2010 at 10:11 pm
I’m a SoCA resident and it breaks my heart. But then I think of the insane murders taking place in and around Tijuana and realize why people would want to leave, not to mention the “American Dream” that is still alive in so many who long to be here. This was a very humbling article…thanks for the reality check.
posted by shirleyfeeney on 3-10-2010 at 1:30 am
“Undocumented” migrants, eh? If I go home tonight and find that a stranger has broken into my house and is sitting in my kitchen eating food from my fridge, does that make him an “undocumented occupant” of my home?
The pretense that borders and laws don’t matter, and the attempt to euphemize them away is more a tribute to the writer’s self-image enhancement (“I’m so compassionate!”) than it is a testament to the desperation of the illegals.
posted by Mark F. on 3-10-2010 at 9:56 am
beautiful and striking. what kind of camera do you use for strange geographies?
posted by LT on 3-10-2010 at 11:31 am
Well said Mark F. Yeah, it sucks that these people died alone, but they shouldn’t have put themselves in that situation. (meaning, going about it illegally)
posted by delinda on 3-10-2010 at 12:13 pm
Mark F., finding an intruder eating your food would indeed be concerning. However, it seems these undocumented migrants are risking their lives crossing into the US so they can work for very low wages.
The way to stop them is easy – don’t hire them.
But it is clear that their labor is in demand; they continue to be hired. As long as these people fill a valuable and desired role in the US economy, no wall or border security will keep them out.
Perhaps this article is not about “the writer’s self-image enhancement,” but simply a reminder that the right to live and work in the US is extremely valuable. As a US citizen (I assume you are one), you should consider yourself fortunate. And if you came to the US with out personal effort (for example by birth or immigrated as a child), you have, in a sense won the lottery.
posted by Anon on 3-10-2010 at 12:52 pm
Wonderful article.
As to the comments, maybe these people had no other choice. You have never been in their shoes, or know what they are dealing with. Perhaps you should think of that before you condemn…
No one deserves to die alone and be forgotten in a nameless burial plot.
posted by Molly on 3-10-2010 at 12:53 pm
Does that cross read ‘No mas’? Has anyone seen Roberto Duran recently?
posted by Yardbird on 3-10-2010 at 2:12 pm
Whenever I find myself torn about this subject, I think, “What in God’s name are they escaping that would make this alternative even a choice?” I don’t like the draining of funds, but I like inhumanity and suffering even less.
posted by Helenann on 3-10-2010 at 3:49 pm
Helenann, it couldn’t have been summed up any better. Heartbreaking.
posted by SAM on 3-10-2010 at 6:04 pm
Thank you for reminding us of our humanity. Helenann is right. Ransom, thank you for sharing your sharing your amazing perspective as you travel through life.
posted by Heaz on 3-10-2010 at 11:41 pm
The photos of unknown migrants graves are really scary but the lack of humanity’s sense it’s even worse…it’s a shame.
How someone can compare or justify a tragedy (the dead of a person) with the “illegal” term?. Unfortunately, the photos and some people show us, how far we are of understanding what justice means.
posted by Elya C. on 3-11-2010 at 2:33 am
As a descendant of immigrants, I am immensely grateful for their sacrifice and bravery to secure their children’s future. This article makes it all the more obvious what people are willing to risk for a better life and a brighter future. If my situation were dire enough, I’d break a law in a heartbeat for my children.
posted by Erin on 3-12-2010 at 11:18 am