Jackson said the winter solstice is also a popular time for people to honor the lives of those experiencing homelessness who have passed away without shelter.

“When immigrants cross the border, they are also experiencing homelessness," Jackson explained. "And so I thought, ‘Well why don’t we do a memorial service here in Denver?’ Even though we’re far from the border, immigration and immigrant detention is not something that’s just happening on the border. It’s also affecting the lives of people here in Colorado, here in Denver, [and] across the country.”

Jackson continued: “We don’t know anything about them. We don’t know why they came to the United States—what their hopes were; what their dreams were; what their goals were. Their bodies were so decomposed by the time someone found them that they were unidentifiable. But we will remember them as an ‘unknown person.’ I believe that’s just reprehensible. That somebody could die on our borderlands for a lack of water, for a lack of food, for a lack of protection from the environment.”

In her research, Jackson learned that the people recovering the bodies along the border— groups like Aguilas del Desierto— believe the reported number of people who die crossing the border is “grossly misrepresented.”

“They say that for every one body that they find, that there are a least five more bodies that are never going to be found,” she said.

The ceremony will be remote this year, and participants will gather in their own homes. Jackson said people are participating across the country because of the fact that it’s a remote gathering.

“We are hopeful that people from all over the world will join with us and have this be an opportunity to learn about what’s happening at the border and the reality that many people are losing their lives,” she said. “And this is a small and significant way that we can remember them.”

More information on Casa de Paz and their event is available here.

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