Identifying Southwest Hispanics using nonmetric traits and the cultural profile

Due to the increasing number of Southwest Hispanics in the United States, as well as the overwhelming number of foreign nationals that die every year trying to enter the United States along the southern United States border with Mexico, new methods for classifying individuals have been established at the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner in Tucson, Arizona (PCOME). For each of the past 5 years, the PCOME has investigated a record number of deaths associated with these border crossings. The overwhelming majority of the identified decedents are Mexican Nationals. However, approximately 25% of these undocumented border crossers have yet to be identified, making it clear that improved methods for human identification are greatly needed. The first goal of this paper is to delineate the suite of skeletal nonmetric traits utilized in assessing Southwest Hispanic ancestry at the PCOME. This suite of nonmetric traits has proven to be an effective component in establishing the "biological profile" of unknown individuals in these cases. The second goal of this paper is to introduce methods used at the PCOME to establish the "cultural profile" of individuals in these cases. The "cultural profile" is a set of identification criteria that include: the geographic context of recovery, personal effects, dental health, and cultural accoutrements. Establishing the "cultural profile" in these cases is essential in identifying individuals as foreign nationals who have died trying to cross the border.     

Identifying the dead: methods utilized by the Pima County (Arizona) office of the medical examiner for undocumented border crossers: 2001-2006

The Pima County (Arizona) Office of the Medical Examiner has seen a dramatic rise over the past 6 years in the number of deaths related to the illegal crossing of our international border with Mexico. This rise in deaths is undoubtedly related to an increase in the number of foreign nationals who cross into the various Arizona jurisdictions that utilize the Pima County Medical Examiner to investigate their unnatural deaths. Because of the utterly dangerous nature of trekking across the Sonoran Desert, especially in the summer months, many of these unfortunate migrants succumb to the effects of heat-related illness and perish along the journey. The combined effects of a dry, hot environment and the remoteness of some of the trekking corridors can quickly render a deceased person unidentifiable by visual means. Thus, our office is faced with not only an increase in the number of deaths requiring medico-legal investigation but also an increase in the number of decedents needing additional specialized examinations in an effort to effect identification. This paper attempts to outline the problems and the methods utilized by our office over the past 6 years in the identification process of undocumented border crossers. It is hoped that this paper, as well as the others presented at this symposium, will allow for the sharing of information amongst all medical investigators who assist in the identification of these migrants. The identification of these individuals takes on added importance when one considers the possible nationalities, and perhaps motivation for entering into the US, of those that remain unidentified.     

“汉土疆界碑”铭文解读——以法律文化的视角

清雍正三年秋,在湘鄂西容美土司与长阳县交界地区,发生了大规模的汉土田地权属之争,当事各方通过会勘、协商,最终妥善解决了争议,并在争议地带建立起两座形制内容完全相同的"汉土疆界碑",创立了通过协商机制解决区域性民族纠纷的范例。汉土疆界碑铭文典型地反映了清初改土归流前夕,渝湘鄂黔毗邻多民族混居地区民族关系的急剧变化;记录了容美末代土司田?如在与命运抗争的同时,为保一方民众的安宁,坚持理性处理民族关系的策略,为世人认识少数民族土司提供了一个真实的影象。     

抗日战争时期陕甘宁边区政府交际处的统战工作

抗战爆发后,建立抗日民族统一战线成为中国共产党的政治路线和基本策略。围绕这一策略和大局,陕甘宁边区政府交际处工作侧重点迅速发生转变,其职能定位迅速调整,工作人员思想观念艰难转变,他们创造性地开展统战工作,取得了显著成绩,为抗日战争的最后胜利做出了贡献     

清代民族边防变化及划界签约

有清一代,传统边防的思想观念有了重大的变化。在遭受西方殖民主义者侵略的过程中,清王朝统治者认识到了国家边防防御的重要性。自康熙皇帝开始,清政府的边防观念开始转变,逐渐形成了一套边防指导思想和政策。     

From Politics to Economics at the Thai–Cambodian Border: Plus Ça Change...

This paper looks at border relations between Thais and Cambodians over the last thirty years, in the context of the developing Thai polity and economy. It considers the salience of both ethnicity and nationality in shaping Thai interactions with Khmers. It suggests that as the threat of violent regional conflict diminished, the shared border came to represent important economic opportunities for both Thais and Cambodians. However, rhetorics of national interest and regional development notwithstanding, the beneficiaries of this transnational trade are neither nation nor state, but specific interest groups working through the structures of government and military on both sides of the border.     

EUROSUR: saving lives or building borders?

This article analyses the origins and development of the European Border Surveillance System (EUROSUR) in order to better understand its functioning in view of its stated objectives. Particular attention will be devoted to the European Commission’s recurring claim that one of EUROSUR’s main goals is to save lives at sea. This contribution questions that assertion. It rather considers EUROSUR as representative of the steady, technocratic development of a European system for border management. The reliance on the exchange of information, the reinforcement of FRONTEX, the European Union’s agency for the coordination of operational cooperation between national border guards and the emphasis on cooperation with third countries support this claim.     

Why is it taking so long to move down the road?: Creating a regional border agreement in the DMV as an alternative for the Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children

The Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children (ICPC) is an agreement between all 50 states and the District of Columbia governing the process of placing a foster child out of state. Notorious for its long wait times and system backlog, the ICPC presents a host of problems for children attempting to move mere minutes across state lines to be with a relative or kin placement instead of state foster care. In an effort to make this process smoother, 18 different “border agreements” have been adopted by several neighboring states across the U.S. Such border agreements give temporary placement licenses to relatives and kin while the ICPC process is ongoing. While this is a good start towards a solution, the ICPC could be further streamlined if border agreements were used more widely, especially in regional contexts. This article considers the possibility of such a regional agreement between the District of Columbia, Maryland, and Northern Virginia (known as the “DMV”). By comparing and contrasting two existing border agreements in these three jurisdictions, a regional DMV border agreement can be created implementing the best terms of both agreements.