Finding missing migrants along the U.S.-Mexico border, the world's deadliest land migration route

Ajo, Arizona — The search began with a prayer in the early morning hours, as the sun emerged from the mountains that adorn this picturesque, yet often deadly, landscape near the U.S.-Mexico border.

It was the third search that a grassroots group of volunteers known as the Armadillos had embarked on this summer with the hopes of finding José Salinas Pineda, a 21-year-old Mexican migrant who had been missing since early June. 

Back in their homes in southern California, the volunteers are construction workers, gardeners and cablemen. Like the people they look for, most are also immigrants. But in the desolate Arizona desert, the volunteers share a humanitarian mission: to offer some closure to distraught families by finding the remains of their loved ones.