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On Sunday, June 2, what seemed like a quiet spring weekend for José and Rutilda Cabrera turned into a nightmare. Near midnight, a devastating message changed their lives forever. Someone, possibly a “coyote,” or a person smuggling immigrants, had sent them photographs of their niece María del Carmen Guzman’s lifeless body along with satellite coordinates of her location.
She had decided to emigrate from El Salvador to New Bedford in search of a new life, but her trip ended tragically due to dehydration on one of the hottest days in the arid New Mexico desert.
Desperate, the Cabreras tried to communicate with the Border Patrol and various institutions, but the language barrier got them nowhere. Then, miraculously, they reached a New Mexico State Police officer who spoke Spanish. The officer asked for the information, gathered a group of uniformed officers and went out, at dawn, to look for the body.
Just hours later, José Cabrera got the call that the officers had found Guzman’s body 200 meters from a road. In a tragic coincidence, del Guzman’s mother — Cabrera’s sister — died 14 years ago attempting the same journey.
“It’s very sad what’s happening,” said Cabrera, who along with his wife is organizing fundraisers to cover the cost of sending the body back to Ilobasco, where del Carmen’s grandparents and brother are waiting.
According to the International Organization for Migration, 548 people died in 2023 trying to cross the border. According to the U.S. Border Patrol, border crossing deaths have increased by 188% this year.
Email Gerardo Beltrán Salinas at gerardo@newbedfordlight.org
Sorry, enter legally. Not illegally. Work legally not illegally. Die legally not illegally, because you’ll have a longer life, if it’s done legally.
I was born in the USA. I obey laws, get deceived, get bullied, get harassed but don’t do anything because it would be illegal. So don’t put yourself in a position that could cause death by doing something illegal and expect sympathy.