MAVERICK COUNTY, Texas – The journey of crossing the Texas-Mexico border can be a deadly one.

Over the last decade, hundreds of people have been found dead in Maverick County. Many of them would remain unidentified without the help of a Texas State University nonprofit.

Operation Identification identifies and repatriates human remains found at the southern border. The nonprofit hopes to provide closure to families, at no cost to them, who aren’t sure if their loved one is missing or deceased.

The nonprofit has identified nearly 200 people with Texas State University’s Postdoctoral Scholar, Victoria Swenson, partially leading the efforts when the group travels to border towns. The program’s director is Dr. Kate Spradley.

“Normally, we deal with skeletal remains to develop a biological profile,” Swenson said.

KSAT met Swenson and her team in Maverick County, a county where dozens of migrants attempt to cross the border. Many of the border deaths Operation Identification works on are from heat-related illnesses and drownings across several border towns.

When in Maverick County, the nonprofit works with Amerika Garcia’s volunteer organization: Border Vigil – Eagle Pass.

“Climate change, crime, drug violence are pushing people for survival, and their options become more and more limited,” Garcia said.

Border Vigil’s mission is to highlight the number of deaths across the Rio Grande and provide information to the public about what is happening in border towns.

“They will do anything for hope,” Garcia said. “Unfortunately, that means crossing in the hottest times of day, in the hottest part of the year and in dangerous places, like along the Rio Grande. We actually put up a cross memorial here in Eagle Pass in Shelby Park.”

Texas State anthropologists said newly found remains of unknown individuals could be linked back several years. To speed up the identification process, Operation Identification added a new approach in 2024.

“We’ve kind of switched gears to include fingerprinting and DNA sampling of more recently deceased,” Swenson said. “Fingerprints are the quickest, easiest way to identify people. When we get a fingerprint ID, it comes back with a report of who they are, where they’re from, birth date.”

While fingerprinting is convenient, results do not always come back with a match to a person.

There are also times when natural body decomposition prevents the ability to take fingerprints. In those cases, Operation Identification can bring remains back to Texas State University in San Marcos for a more in-depth identification process.

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