The University of Arizona Press
Border Afterlives
Migrant Deaths, Forensic Investigations, and the Politics of Haunting
Paperback ($36.00), Hardcover ($100.00), Ebook ($36.00)
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Border Afterlives begins with the undocumented individuals who die crossing the U.S.-Mexico border—deaths that are both preventable and politically produced.
Drawing on over a decade of ethnographic, participatory, and community-engaged research, author Gabriella Soto examines the postmortem journeys of these migrants through the fragmented infrastructure of medicolegal death investigation in the U.S. Southwest. She reveals how the state’s deterrence-based border policies not only generate death but also fail to provide adequate care for the dead. Soto argues that these deaths should be understood as structural homicides and that the forensic neglect they face is a form of ongoing violence.
Moving between the practical and the philosophical, Soto asks what it means to care for the dead and what society owes to those who die in its name. Through the lens of haunting, she explores how the dead continue to shape the living, not as objects of horror but as moral agents whose presence demands justice. Border Afterlives offers a border-scale comparative account of forensic practices, critiques the limits of “best practices” in under-resourced systems, and calls for a reimagining of forensic humanitarianism grounded in reciprocity and dignity, beyond human rights. This is a book that insists on remembering the dead.
Drawing on over a decade of ethnographic, participatory, and community-engaged research, author Gabriella Soto examines the postmortem journeys of these migrants through the fragmented infrastructure of medicolegal death investigation in the U.S. Southwest. She reveals how the state’s deterrence-based border policies not only generate death but also fail to provide adequate care for the dead. Soto argues that these deaths should be understood as structural homicides and that the forensic neglect they face is a form of ongoing violence.
Moving between the practical and the philosophical, Soto asks what it means to care for the dead and what society owes to those who die in its name. Through the lens of haunting, she explores how the dead continue to shape the living, not as objects of horror but as moral agents whose presence demands justice. Border Afterlives offers a border-scale comparative account of forensic practices, critiques the limits of “best practices” in under-resourced systems, and calls for a reimagining of forensic humanitarianism grounded in reciprocity and dignity, beyond human rights. This is a book that insists on remembering the dead.
“This book brings a unique perspective on the deaths of migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border and the many agencies and organizations that attempt to care for the dead. High numbers of the dead remain unidentified while the issue of migrant deaths is willfully ignored in public policy on ‘security’ and immigration. Soto brings much-needed analysis to the topic, with over a decade of research that extends from Arizona to Texas. Her argument that border deaths should be classified as homicides does much to advance discussion about state responsibility. In sum, the book reveals that the way society treats the dead tells us much about whose lives are valued and why.”—Christine M. Kovic, University of Houston–Clear Lake
“This book is a powerful account that draws from longitudinal and deeply embedded research in the medical examiner’s office in Arizona to understand the material realities and the political interests that explain the limited forensic infrastructure to respond to migrant deaths at the U.S.-Mexico border. Offering an original and accessible perspective that combines personal experience with theories of grievability and haunting, Soto examines why there is a lack of political will to put resources toward forensic tools and databases that would bring justice to the victims of the border regime and their families. Through her personal experience working in the medical examiner’s office and with organizations at the border, Soto offers a clear pathway for policies and practices that could be implemented to effectively and humanely address the need for identification of unidentified bodies and remains of migrants and, at a more systemic level, to challenge the discourse around migrant deaths as a phenomenon that is delinked from existing border policies and the government’s responsibility for their consequences, especially the loss of life.”—Alexandra Délano Alonso, author of From Here and There: Diaspora Policies, Integration, and Social Rights Beyond Borders
“This book is a powerful account that draws from longitudinal and deeply embedded research in the medical examiner’s office in Arizona to understand the material realities and the political interests that explain the limited forensic infrastructure to respond to migrant deaths at the U.S.-Mexico border. Offering an original and accessible perspective that combines personal experience with theories of grievability and haunting, Soto examines why there is a lack of political will to put resources toward forensic tools and databases that would bring justice to the victims of the border regime and their families. Through her personal experience working in the medical examiner’s office and with organizations at the border, Soto offers a clear pathway for policies and practices that could be implemented to effectively and humanely address the need for identification of unidentified bodies and remains of migrants and, at a more systemic level, to challenge the discourse around migrant deaths as a phenomenon that is delinked from existing border policies and the government’s responsibility for their consequences, especially the loss of life.”—Alexandra Délano Alonso, author of From Here and There: Diaspora Policies, Integration, and Social Rights Beyond Borders
380 Pages
6 x 9
Published: March 2026Paperback ISBN: 9780816555079
Published: March 2026Hardcover ISBN: 9780816555086
Published: March 2026Ebook ISBN: 9780816555093