(DETROIT FREE PRESS) — The toe and heel of the boot are scuffed
and a bit dusty. The sole has a few holes, and a small sock is
tucked inside. It now belongs to University of Michigan
professor Jason De Leon. The boot was one of the first items he
plucked out of the Sonora Desert in Arizona when he started the
Undocumented Migration Project in 2008 to put his archaeological
and anthropological training to use studying migrant workers who
illegally cross the border into the U.S. He still has questions
about that boot: How old was the child who wore it? Why did it
get left behind? Did a parent have to carry the child the rest
of the way? How do you explain to your child why you’re walking
across the desert?