DNA Testing to Help Connect Missing US-Mexico Border Crossers with Family Aalia Shaheed - KVOA
go to original July 23, 2016

The dangerous journey across the US-Mexico border takes hundreds of lives each year. Many bodies found in the desert are never identified. But one local non-profit is working hard to change that.

The Colibri Center for Human Rights recently received over $1 million in donations to test the DNA of family members of missing migrants.

The death and disappearance of thousands of migrants on the US-Mexico border is one of the most serious human rights crises in the world today. But why is this happening? This short video breaks down the complex situation we see on the border and Colibri is doing to try to address this crisis. (Colibri Center for Human Rights)

“There are hundreds of families who are suffering every single day someone is missing and there's actually a relatively simple fix to that problem,” said Colibri Center Director Robin Reineke.

Each year an average of 170 border crossers end up at the Pima County Medical Examiner’s Office. But only sixty percent are ID’d. There are currently over nine hundred unidentified migrants at the office.

”Pima county has already done a great job in getting all the DNA from those unidentified remains,” said Reineke. “Now we just need to get the DNA from the families into the same place so that we can make comparisons and make matches and finally give people answers that they need.”

Read the rest at KVOA

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