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# Mexico: A Death in the Desert
- URL: https://www.cascadepbs.org/show/frontline/extras/mexico-a-death-in-the-desert-al2s1u/
- Published: 2026-08-07T14:45:37.000Z
- Updated: 2026-08-07T16:30:27.000Z
- Description: The tragic story of a migrant farmer’s journey to the U.S. in the scorching heat.
- Author: Cascade PBS Staff
- Tags: FRONTLINE, #ZZZ_Show_8d45e56c-70b3-4c33-a2eb-1c2ac36ca879, #v1.7, #ZZZ_Extra_5c65f7ed-df08-400b-94fa-67a14ea3dc47, #extra

Like many men from Oaxaca, Mexico, Matias Juan Garcia Zavaleta crossed the U.S.-Mexico border regularly each spring to work in California during harvest time and returned in the fall. He used his earnings to build a home and take care of his family. When an early frost destroyed Garcia's own crops he was left with no choice but to cross again in 2003, but this time the crossing turned fatal.