Along the U.S.-Mexico border, a dilemma of the dead

“Like many medical examiners and county officials along the U.S.-Mexico border, Stern faces a complicated and delicate problem ”” what to do with dozens of John Does, many believed to be illegal immigrants, who end up in county coolers and eventually in anonymous pauper’s graves, all at the expense of local taxpayers.

The scope of the problem is difficult to judge. No agency is charged with tracking what happens to the remains of illegal immigrants who die along the U.S.-Mexico border ”” whether they are identified or buried, whether their families are ever informed. U.S. immigration officials recently announced a decrease in the number of deaths reported along the border since October 2006.

But the statistics don’t necessarily reflect what’s happening in Texas border cities and towns.”

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