
Earlier this year, BBC journalists accompanied volunteers from Águilas del Desierto (Eagles of the Desert) to search for a missing young man named Raul Sanchez. His family provided extensive information, which helped the group eventually locate his body, still wearing the clothes they had described.
Normally, volunteers refrain from identifying remains until DNA testing is complete, but in this instance, his clothing and identification matched those of the missing man. BBC journalists captured this remarkable search in a 22-minute documentary, highlighting the ongoing work of volunteers. The video has since garnered nearly 4 million views.
This documentary went on to win an Emmy Award recently for “Outstanding Feature Story in Spanish.” Watch the full documentary on YouTube. It is fully in Spanish, but English closed captioning can be turned on by going to Settings, selecting Auto-Translate, and choosing English to follow along.
Águilas hopes that more people will gain a deeper understanding of the true crisis unfolding at the border and the countless young lives tragically lost in their desperate pursuit of freedom from violence and poverty.
Águilas del Desierto in the Media
POV/PBS (Documentaries with a Point of View) and The New Yorker Documentary – 2021 SXSW-Winning Short: “Águilas” tells the story of Águilas del Desierto, who look for migrants who go missing crossing the border—often finding only their remains.
CNN – “No Olvidado” is CNN’s documentary about death and dignity on the US-Mexico border.
PBS News – Special correspondent Jean Guerrero of KPBS Fronteras joins a group of volunteers on a search.
The New York Times – Simon Romero, a national correspondent for The New York Times based in Albuquerque, highlights Águilas del Desierto’s mission to recover bodies of migrants lost in the desert.