Lawmakers call for investigation into mass graves

Source: AP

McALLEN, Texas (AP) — The mass graves of suspected unidentified immigrants buried haphazardly in a South Texas cemetery and uncovered this month by anthropologists should be secured by state police until a criminal investigation can be carried out, a Texas lawmaker said Sunday.

State Rep. Terry Canales, D-Edinburg, said he had asked the Department of Public Safety to secure the cemetery in Falfurrias following revelations of human remains buried in garbage bags and multiple remains put in a single body bag without proper records. DPS spokesman Tom Vinger said Sunday in an email that, "the Texas Rangers plan to meet with local officials Monday to determine the proper course of action."

Baylor University anthropologist Lori Baker and Krista Latham, a forensic anthropologist at the University of Indianapolis, worked with their students at the cemetery this month in an ongoing project to identify immigrant remains along the U.S.-Mexico border. The teams worked in Falfurrias last year as well and found similar practices.

"There's no question in one way or another that this is illegal, whether it violates the actual penal code or it if constitutes fraud," Canales said.

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