Walter H. Birkby, 1 Ph.D.; Todd W. Fenton, 2 Ph.D.; and Bruce E. Anderson, 1 Ph.D. Identifying Southwest Hispanics Using Nonmetric Traits and the Cultural Profile* ABSTRACT: Due to the increasing number of Southwest Hispanics in the United States, as well as the overwhelming number of foreign nation- als that die every year trying to enter the United States along the southern United States border with Mexico, new methods for classifying individuals have been established at the Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner in Tucson, Arizona (PCOME). For each of the past 5 years, the PCOME has investigated a record number of deaths associated with these border crossings. The overwhelming majority of the identified decedents are Mexi- can Nationals. However, approximately 25% of these undocumented border crossers have yet to be identified, making it clear that improved methods for human identification are greatly needed. The first goal of this paper is to delineate the suite of skeletal nonmetric traits utilized in assessing South- west Hispanic ancestry at the PCOME. This suite of nonmetric traits has proven to be an effective component in establishing the ‘‘biological profile’’ of unknown individuals in these cases. The second goal of this paper is to introduce methods used at the PCOME to establish the ‘‘cultural profile’’ of individuals in these cases. The ‘‘cultural profile’’ is a set of identification criteria that include: the geographic context of recovery, personal effects, dental health, and cultural accoutrements. Establishing the ‘‘cultural profile’’ in these cases is essential in identifying individuals as foreign nationals who have died trying to cross the border. KEYWORDS: forensic science, forensic anthropology, Southwest Hispanics, ancestry, border crossers, nonmetric traits, cultural profile, personal effects, cultural accoutrements The Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner (PCOME) in Tucson, Arizona is tasked with investigating the deaths of a signifi- cant and growing number of foreign nationals of Southwest His- panic ancestry who die while crossing the United States-Mexico border. In the past 5 years, nearly 750 of these deaths have occurred within the jurisdiction of PCOME. Approximately 94% of those identified were Mexican Nationals, with the remainder of the identified individuals being from other countries within Latin America (1,2). Typically, the border crossers who die in southern Arizona can be characterized as low-income individuals coming from rural areas in Mexico and other Latin American countries. Most of these individuals are young adults between the ages of 20 and 30. The ancestry of most of these individuals is admixed Euro- pean and Native American. These individuals often display shorter stature, poor dental health (including more caries, more crowns destroyed by caries, and more enamel hypoplasias). In addition, specific cultural accoutrements, such as cosmetic dental work, are often observed in these cases. Unfortunately, only 75% of the 750 presumed foreign nationals have currently been identified (DNA comparisons are pending in more than a dozen cases). This unfortunate fact creates an addi- tional problem for the PCOME, namely, how to properly character- ize such a large number of unidentified individuals. Being able to distinguish illegal immigrants who have died trying to cross the border from individuals legally in the United States is necessary for several reasons. First, the PCOME works closely with the Tucson and Nogales Offices of the Mexican Consulate in the resolution of any death that may involve a Mexican citizen. For the border cros- sers who die in Southern Arizona, the Mexican Consulate plays a critical role in case resolution, even for some foreign nationals who are eventually identified as non-Mexicans. Thus, the PCOME tries to avoid encumbering the Mexican Consulate with those cases that relate to United States citizens. Second, missing person databases in the United States, such as the National Crime Information Center (NCIC) and the National Center for Missing and Exploited Chil- dren (NCMEC), do not normally list amongst their rosters these would be migrants from foreign countries. Therefore, it is in the best interest of the PCOME to be able to separate unknown indi- viduals suspected of being in the United States legally from those suspected of being illegal immigrants. Third, and lastly, until recently the United States Border Patrol (USBP) did not consider unidentified skeletal remains in the various tallies of ‘‘undocu- mented aliens’’ (UDAs). Due, at least in part, to the PCOME char- acterization of some of these unknown individuals as probable UDAs (the PCOME now refers to these individuals as ‘‘undocu- mented border-crossers’’ or UBCs), the Border Patrol now includes on their rolls skeletal and other unidentified remains found in known migrant trafficking corridors. The PCOME acknowledges that some degree of over-reporting is possible in assigning presumptive nationality to an unidentified person, but to exclude the nearly two hundred unidentified individuals over the past 5 years would vastly under-report the number of border-crossing deaths. Because this issue is of national interest, it is our goal to estimate as accurately as possible the number of deaths relating to UBCs. As a result, an assessment of both ancestry and nationality is necessary to generate an accurate count. This paper explains how these assessments are accomplished at the PCOME. Nonmetric Traits and Ancestry The determination of ancestry from human skeletal remains can be accomplished by both metric and nonmetric assessment. The 1 Pima County Office of the Medical Examiner, 2825 East District Street, Tucson, AZ 85714. 2 Department of Anthropology, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824. *Presented in part at the 56th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Forensic Sciences, Dallas, TX, February 2004. Received 7 May 2005; and in revised form 1 Aug. 2007; accepted 5 Aug. 2007. 1 J Forensic Sci, January 2008, Vol. 53, No. 1 doi: 10.1111/j.1556-4029.2007.00611.x Available online at: www.blackwell-synergy.com Ó 2008 American Academy of Forensic Sciences 29