Lost items tell hidden story of U.S. migrant crisis

STORY: “It's all sizes, all genders. So you've got the things left by children, the things left by women and by men...”

These belongings were once carried by migrants making a treacherous and sometimes deadly journey through the Sonoran Desert to the United States.

There are children’s clothes and backpacks... and some, more personal items.

“These are embroidered tortilla warmers, people bringing oftentimes things from home that represent a connection to family and to place.”

They are all part of a new exhibition in Los Angeles... where a hidden side of the migrant crisis at the U.S./Mexico border is brought into full view.

It's called “Hostile Terrain ’94 – Undocumented Migration Project.”

Jason De Leon, an anthropologist at UCLA, is the executive director.

He’s been going into the desert since 2009 to collect and document what was left behind by migrants... many of whom never made it to the United States.

He says for some the exhibit is overwhelming...

“I think people tend to have a strong emotional reaction to this exhibition, whether that's sadness or anger or disbelief.“

“Here on this wall, this is just a small sample of the hundreds of missing persons fliers that we have, you know, at the Undocumented Migration Project and the families that we work with."

The exhibition’s title – “Hostile Terrain ‘94” – refers to a 1994 U.S. Border Patrol policy, one that De Leon said pushed people towards the desert and caused migrant deaths in Arizona to spike.

"They're often traveling without a compass or a map, using the stars to navigate, and other natural markers on the landscape. But it's really a very intense, both physical and emotional experience for folks. And thousands of people have died during this process. There's been about 4,000 sets of recovered remains from Arizona alone. And much of the forensic work that we've done really suggests that that number is dramatically underrepresented the actual number of folks who have died during this process.”

Those uncounted deaths are one part of a humanitarian crisis that’s been going on for decades, said De Leon.

He hopes when visitors see items like these worn shoes and faded photographs… they will see the people behind the statistics.

“It remains well hidden because it's happening in the desert out in the middle of nowhere. And so, you know, for us, it's important for people to come here and engage with this in a meaningful way.”

“Hostile Terrain ’94” is showing in downtown Los Angeles until July 2023.