Map silences and chronic humanitarian crises: Spatial patterns of migrant mortality in South Texas, 2009-2020

Forensic and humanitarian interventions deployed to address migrant death in US southwestern border states have become increasingly prevalent over the past four decades. In this paper we address two persistent issues specific to the Texas-Mexico border context. First, we present the first comprehensive geospatial analysis of migrant deaths in South Texas, establishing a twelve-year (2009-2020) mortality profile. And second, we introduce the concept of necrosilences and its implications to both forensic and humanitarian work and usage of geospatial tools. We applied ANOVA, spatial statistics, and cluster analysis to test the relationships of migrant mortality point locations throughout South Texas, an area comprised of ten counties with some of the highest reported migrant deaths in the state. Our findings demonstrated that unidentified human remains that corresponded to migrants were found most consistently in jurisdictions inland from the Mexican border. Further, the map visualizations highlighted vast areas seemingly devoid of migrant deaths. These empty areas are emblematic of necrosilences. That is, instances where there is a lack of access or accounting rather than no death incidences. We conclude by discussing the importance of visualizing necrosilences.

Automated summary

This paper addresses the issues of migrant death in the Texas-Mexico border context, presenting the first comprehensive geospatial analysis of migrant deaths in South Texas and introducing the concept of necrosilences. The findings highlight the consistent presence of unidentified human remains in jurisdictions inland from the Mexican border and the existence of vast areas seemingly devoid of migrant deaths, emphasizing the importance of visualizing necrosilences.