Bodies in Limbo: Issues in Identification and Repatriation of Migrant Remains in South Texas

Editors

Krista E. Latham, & Alyson J. O'Daniel (Eds.)

Document Type

Book Section

Publication Date

10-4-2017

Publication Title

Sociopolitics of Migrant Death and Repatriation: Perspectives from Forensic Science

Publisher

Springer International Publishing

Issue

1

First page number:

143

Last page number:

156

Abstract

This chapter traces the movement of deceased migrants in South Texas through the system of identification and repatriation. Given significant differences in funding, resources, labor power, institutional support, and time, the timing and movement of bodies through the process are highly variable. In many ways, the fragmentation and differential support for volunteer forensic scientists have produced particular systems-level nodes where bodies may wait “in limbo” for years. This chapter considers constraints faced by forensic scientists and the systemic implications of those individual constraints.

Keywords

Migrant deaths, Identification, Repatriation

Language

English

UNLV article access

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