Mourning the Unknown Dead

Many migrants who attempt to cross the U.S.-Mexican border into Southern California never make it. Inadequately dressed and without enough food and water, they fall prey to extreme weather, rugged terrain and other dangers.

Their deaths often go unnoticed. Their bodies are placed in a dirt plot in the back of a cemetery. Only a brick with the words “John Doe” marks each grave.

In the Imperial County border town of Holtville, 150 unidentified immigrants are buried. Father Cecilio Moraga, a pastor at St. Joseph’s Catholic Church there, organized a procession to draw attention to the problem.

About 80 people marched in the desert heat Wednesday to the town’s cemetery, where they placed a red flower at each brick and a white cross reading “No olvidado”: not forgotten.

Christina Lareos mourns at grave site.