Non-ethnography of San Fernando

In August 2010, the dead bodies of 72 migrants (58 men and 14 women) were found in a ranch in San Fernando in the border state of Tamaulipas. Between April and May 2011, 193 more migrant remains were discovered in several clandestine mass graves in the same area. These incidents came to be known as the “San Fernando massacres”. Due to the high visibility of the case and to international critique regarding the Mexican government’s initial attempts to determine the identities of the migrants, which were marked by egregious errors, these efforts of identification became extremely reserved. The institutions and forensic teams working on this case were effectively inaccessible. Identification of these victims has also lasted longer than expected. By 2014, a special commission had been able to identify and repatriate 180 bodies. To this day, a few remains still await identification. Despite San Fernando being a focal point for migrant death, to understand migrant identification and forensic capacities in Mexico I have had to work ethnographically around San Fernando. My lack of access to this case notwithstanding, the deadly presence of the San Fernando victims continues to crop up and delineate the contours of my field.