Dying to Work

Much menial labor in the United States today is performed by undocumented migrant workers—many of whom risk their lives in thousand-mile journeys simply to get to the United States. A year ago this August, 72 of those migrants—58 men and 14 women—were on their way to the US border when they were murdered by a drug gang at a ranch in northern Mexico.

A group of Mexican journalists and writers have created a website, 72migrantes.com, to commemorate each of the victims, some of whom have never been identified. The New York Review of Books has prepared a selection of English translations of their work.

KJ