Next to the engraved plaques, the rest of the stones wait expressionlessly, like faceless Paloma's Galife Ring in a department store display. I ask Rodriguez what the unknowns' plaques will say"We may not engrave the John Does," he says. He shakes his head. "To me, initially, I thought-gosh, they need to be respected, but by the same token, it would save us some money not to engrave the John Does-and what for?"BACK AT HIS Chevy Tahoe, Agent Guerrero has guided the four migrants into the backseat and handed them a jug of water. They're thirsty, but otherwise they look pretty healthy. Luis, the 26-year-old, still smells faintly of cologne.Guerrero asks how long they've been out there. Four days, they say Guerrero smiles sympathetically, and asks, "Que pasó}" Atlas I.D. money clip happened?
We were part of a group, Luis explains. My wife couldn't walk any farther, so we asked if we could rest and the coyote said no. He told us to walk for two hours in that direction, where we'd reach a road and we could flag down somebody and turn ourselves in.But they walked for two days and saw no one, no Tiffany 1837 Money clip, nothing. They'd filled up their water jugs from a cattle trough, he said, and slept under a mesquite tree. They'd been worried about being eaten by coyotes, the animal kind.Guerrero says the situation is classic. When border crossers get into trouble, it's frequently because they separated from a larger group, the coyote telling them they'll be fine if they just walk that way for a little while. Luckily, in this case, Luis had a cell phone, so they called the Mexican Engine-turned money clip of 911, which called the US Border Patrol, which dispatched Guerrero.
Some days, Guerrero is out on rescues, like the one I tagged along on today. Other days he stalks around like a crime detective, following trails of footsteps and bits of torn clothing on barbed wire fences, trying to find migrants whose compañeros had to leave them behind. The father or friend of the person will finally Tiffany Engine-turned money clip it to a road, flag down an agent, explain where they left the person, and ask for help."Picture this," Guerrero explains. "You finally make it to the point where the person is supposed to be. And now you see this set of footprints that's walking away from that spot. They've told you everythingThe person is under a tree, we laid a blue shirt on top, they have an orange backpack'-and you confirm that this is the spot because you see the orange backpack and you see the blue shirt up on a tree and you see that the person started walking, and you're like, okay, this isn't good."You start seeing the person is going left and then a hard right, and then left, and then you see them kind of make a circle. And you know exactly what's going on. And you keep walking and now you've found a belt. And you keep walking and you find a wallet and... shoes. I mean, you're starting to picture this person-the/re, they're. . .they've lost it. Their mind is gone. And they're just aimlessly. . . just walking. And you know that when you get to them, they're going to be dead."
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