Covid-19: Mexican families struggle to retrieve loved ones' remains from US

Medel Huesca liked to dance, play cumbia music, and host backyard cookouts at the house he shared with relatives in Valley Stream, New York. He was deeply loyal, and kept close ties to his family in Veracruz, Mexico, despite having been away for twenty years.

He worked two jobs – at a supermarket and for a meat supplier – to support his wife and six children back home; he provided uniforms to his youngest daughter’s baseball team, and he called home nearly every day.

“He felt lonely. He didn’t have any close family with him,” his sister, Adelina Huesca, said. “He was always dedicated to his family – body and soul.” His family was building a house with the remittances he’d sent over the years, and it was nearly completed.

He hoped to return to Mexico soon.

His two jobs were classified as essential, so Medel continued to work even as many local governments were issuing stay-at-home orders. Then in late March, he fell ill with coronavirus. On 3 April, his cousins Fabian and David, who lived with him, saw that he was struggling to breathe and called an ambulance. He died two days later.

More than 1,500 Mexican nationals have died in the United States of Covid-19, according to the Mexican government; some advocacy groups say the true figure is higher.

For many Mexicans, being buried in native soil is an important rite. But families on both sides of the border are facing language barriers, bureaucratic hurdles, and financial burdens as they seek to return their loved ones’ remains.

Adelina was horrified at the prospect of her brother ending up in a mass grave in New York, but when she called her country’s consulate in the city seeking help, she said she faced extensive delays.

Once someone finally picked up the phone at the consulate, she was given names of local funeral homes she could call to arrange Medel’s cremation. “But everyone at the funeral homes answered in English – I don’t speak English,” she said.

The Mexican consulate puts the total cost of cremation and repatriating the ashes around $2,000 to $3,000, but local community organizers have said some funeral homes are charging much more.

“Many families have gone into debt, stopped paying the rent, borrowed money from friends to be able to pay for funeral expenses,” said Avelino Meza, the head of Fuerza Migrante, a network of community organizations that tend to Mexicans living in the US.

He said families who have lost loved ones in the US face an extra economic burden. “Many of those who have died were the breadwinners of the family, so families aren’t just concerned about paying funeral expenses, but also how their children and dependents will survive without that support,” he said.

Historically, the Mexican government has offered financial and logistical support to families wishing to repatriate remains. But the pandemic has overwhelmed consulates, causing a backlog of requests, and there is a $1,800 cap on consulate reimbursements for funeral arrangements. Though some state governments in Mexico pitch in, many families are left to come up with the rest.

“Some of these people left Mexico when they were teenagers and haven’t been back,” said Lorena Lucero a Brooklyn-based attorney and activist. “Their dying wishes are often to go back home to be buried with their loved ones.”

Lucero, whose parents immigrated from the Mexican state of Puebla, has been coordinating local non-profits to help families repatriate the bodies of immigrants who have died of Covid-19.

Jorge Islas López, Mexico’s consul general in New York, acknowledged the challenges of handling a deluge of claims, but largely attributes those delays to New York agencies that must produce documentation for the families to file claims for reimbursement. He said every family who requested it would eventually receive at least some financial support.

But in the meantime, families have taken to GoFundMe and nonprofits to raise funds for repatriation. Meza and Lucero both said their organizations were fielding dozens of requests for support from families hoping to repatriate their loved ones’ remains. In New York, local leaders have established a burial fund for low-income families; it extends to undocumented families who wish to bury their dead in the US.

After days of making frantic calls to the consulate, funeral homes, and anyone who might be able to help, Adelina heard from a friend who put her in touch with Fuerza Migrante.

She was skeptical at first, but she said after the organization stepped in, the consulate became more responsive. “That was when I started to relax a little and actually believe that we’d be able to return the ashes,” she said.

The organization would cover some of the cremation expenses and help the family secure reimbursement from the Mexican government; the consulate would take care of sending Medel’s ashes back to Mexico.

In the meantime, Medel’s family has gone through the traditional rites of mourning without his remains. On the evening of 14 April, friends and family gathered in a park near Medel’s home. They recited the rosary and walked, carrying candles and a cross bearing Medel’s name, in a procession to his home. His family kissed the cross, placed flowers on it, and placed it next to the spot where Medel’s father, who died in 2002, is buried.

“We went 20 years without seeing my brother,” Adelina said. “Having his ashes here would be like having him back.”