Search teams uncovered a 20th clandestine grave on Wednesday in the Miguel Alemán settlement in the Mexicali Valley, extending a grim series of discoveries that began earlier this year at an environmental restoration site near the Sonora border.
Members of the Colectivo Armadillos Mexicali, a civilian group of families searching for disappeared loved ones, worked alongside officers from the Mexicali Municipal Police Search Unit to excavate the site. The location sits in a rural area near the border with San Luis Río Colorado, Sonora, roughly 60 kilometers southeast of Mexicali’s urban core.
A Pattern That Started in January
The searches at Miguel Alemán began in early 2026. By January 19, teams had already found seven graves containing 17 bodies, according to earlier reports. By early March, the Fiscalía General del Estado (FGE, the state attorney general’s office) reported that 30 bodies had been recovered from 18 graves at the site.
The discovery of the 20th grave now pushes the total even higher, though authorities have not yet confirmed how many additional remains were found in the latest excavation. The site is located on land associated with an environmental restoration project run by the conservation group Pro Natura.
Civilian Collectives Lead the Search
The Armadillos collective is one of several civilian groups that have driven the search effort in the Mexicali Valley. Another group, Madres Unidas y Fuertes (United and Strong Mothers), played a key role in earlier excavations at the same location. These collectives are made up of families of the disappeared who conduct their own fieldwork, often using rudimentary tools and K9 units to locate burial sites.
During a March excavation, search teams found semi-buried clothing with what appeared to be shotgun pellet holes, pointing to violent deaths. The scale of the findings at a single rural settlement has drawn attention to enforced disappearances in areas far from Mexicali’s city center.
An Ongoing Forensic Zone
The Miguel Alemán site remains an active forensic zone. Search teams continue to comb the area for additional evidence and remains. Baja California has long struggled with a missing persons crisis tied to organized crime, and the concentration of 20 graves in one small community marks one of the state’s most significant mass burial discoveries in recent years.
The discovery was first reported by Semanario Zeta and La Voz de la Frontera.