Mexico report highlights crisis of clandestine migrant graves

A new report titled ‘Trazar la ausencia, caminar la esperanza’ (Tracing the absence, walking the hope) highlights the proliferation of clandestine graves in Mexico and the difficulties faced by families searching for migrants. The study, conducted by the Universidad Iberoamericana Ciudad de México, covers findings from 2006 to 2024.

One specific case noted in the report is the August 2023 discovery of a clandestine grave at the ‘El Mimbre’ site in Coyame del Sotol, Chihuahua. This site contained nine of the 13 migrants who disappeared in September 2021 while traveling through the desert toward the United States.

Andrea Horcasitas Martínez, coordinator of the university’s Human Rights program, noted that a major obstacle in identifying victims is the Mexican search system’s heavy reliance on DNA testing. This approach is problematic for migrants because authorities often lack DNA samples from relatives in countries such as Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, or Colombia to perform necessary comparisons.