Hostile Terrain

Exhibition Dates: November 1-4, 2022

In 1994, the U.S. Border Patrol implemented the immigration enforcement strategy known as "Prevention Through Deterrence" (PTO). This was a policy designed to discourage undocumented migrants from attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border near urban ports-of-entry. With these traditional crossing points closed off, it was expected that people would then attempt to cross the border illegally in more remote and depopulated regions on foot, where the natural environment would act as a physical deterrent. It was anticipated that the difficulties people experienced while traversing dozens of miles across what the Border Patrol deemed the "hostile terrain" of places like the Sonoran Desert of Arizona, would eventually discourage migrants from attempting the journey. This strategy failed to stop border crossers and instead, more than six million people have attempted to migrate into the U.S. through the Sonoran Desert of Southern Arizona since the mid-199os. At least 3,205 people have died, largely from dehydration and hyperthermia while attempting this journey through Arizona. In recent years, this policy has shifted people towards Texas, where hundreds (if not thousands) have perished while attempting to cross the border in that region. PTO is still the primary border enforcement strategy being used along the U.S.-Mexico border today.

Hostile Terrain 94 (HT94) is a participatory art exhibition created by the Undocumented Migration Project (UMP), a nonprofit research-arts-education collective, directed by UCLA anthropologist Jason De Leon. This installation is intended to raise awareness about the realities of the U.S.-Mexico border, focusing on the deaths that have been happening almost daily since 1994 as a direct result of the Border Patrol policy known as "Prevention Through Deterrence" (PTO).

This map contains 3,205 toe tags representing people who have died while crossing the U.S.-Mexico border between the mid-1990s and 2020. Manila tags represent people who have been identified. Orange tags represent unidentified human remains. The construction of this memorial is realized with the help of local volunteers who have hand-written the information of the dead. These tags are then placed on the map in the exact location where those remains were found. The physical act of writing out the names and information for the dead invites participants to reflect, witness, and stand in solidarity with those who have lost their lives in search of a better one. Several toe tags on this wall have QR codes that connect to online content regarding migrant issues along America's southern border.

The UMP has recently joined forces with the Colibri Center for Human Rights to create a safe, humane, and effective process for families of missing migrants to find answers.

A special thanks to Global Sponsors: Center for Contemporary Arts Santa Fe, City College of New York, Arcus Center for Social Justice Leadership at Jalamazco College, School for Advanced Research, SITE Santa Fe, Stanford University, Vanderbilt University, and Wesleyan University.