"In rural Far West Texas, justices of the peace confront a death-investigation system that’s failing unknown migrants"

STORYTELLING CATEGORY

The Big Bend Sentinel
12/15/2022

The story meets the criteria for the storytelling award because it reveals the complexity and varying perspectives surrounding how the state processes unidentified dead migrants found along the Texas-Mexico border, which reached a record high this past year.

The issue of migrant deaths in Texas has been covered before, but never with a focus on the rural Far West Texas region or the roles of Justices of the Peace, little-known county officials, play in the identification and repatriation of unknown migrant remains. The piece is a deep dive into a failing death investigation system and includes the perspectives of county officials, a forensic anthropologist, human rights advocate, border patrol officials and family members of migrants who have passed away crossing the Texas-Mexico border.

The story was published in partnership with Texas Monthly, which supported the local newspaper the Big Bend Sentinel through editorial guidance and fact-checking resources. Photographs were taken by the reporter, Mary Cantrell. A multi-page spread of the feature story with a thoughtful layout and design was published in the Big Bend Sentinel print paper as well as online. The article was a challenge to report and edit. The issue is such that many, even experts in the field, are sometimes unsure about the inner workings. Overall, the reporting, editing and fact-checking process took around 10 months. The Big Bend Sentinel’s local readership, as well as audiences state-wide, expressed gratitude for the story.

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Submitted by Mary Cantrell.