Since the year 2000, the Pima County Medical Examiner has received nearly 4,000 sets of human remains from people who died crossing the U.S.-Mexico border into Arizona. Here, a cross marking the place where a man in his 30s died in 2009 lays a few hundred yards from one of the water stations the nonprofit Humane Borders sets out for migrants crossing the desert.
Jesus Dessens-Romero, 28, from Agua Prieta, led a group of five Mexican nationals across the U.S.-Mexico border into Arizona in February 2021, including three sisters ages 23, 20, and 17 and their 16-year-old friend.
A press release says he led them on a perilous route into the rugged and remote Huachuca Mountains with limited food and water and serious weather conditions during the night, including cold and snow.
The 23-year-old sister became unable to eat or walk and Dessens-Romero told the group they were close to a well-traveled roadway and officials would find her if they left her there. He took the rest of the group to Sierra Vista.
Nine months later, SOS Búsqueda y Rescate, a nonprofit group who searches for missing migrants, found the woman’s skeletal remains. She is survived by her husband and daughter.
Dessens-Romero had continued smuggling people into the United States, and a jury found him guilty of multiple, including placing human life in jeopardy.
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