Officials in a South Texas county have voted unanimously to move forward with a preliminary inquiry into the mishandled burials of unidentified immigrants who perished over the years on their way north.
Brooks County Judge Raul Ramirez said Wednesday after a private meeting with the district attorney, sheriff and county commissioners that the county will proceed in support of an inquiry led by the Texas Rangers.
Earlier this month, anthropologists and students exhumed 52 graves at the cemetery, many of which were not marked. Some remains were contained only in body bags or garbage bags.
The team made a similar excavation at the cemetery in 2013, after which the county began contracting with a medical examiner to perform autopsies and take DNA samples on all new unidentified bodies.
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