The story of Jesús Alberto Cabral López's long journey home reaches far beyond his mother's tears. v It is at once ordinary, in that similar stories play out thousands of times in our borderlands, and extraordinary. v It is the story of a poor son's ambition, a desert's toll and the meticulo…

"I've called to tell you the deceased could be Jesús."

Jesús Alberto Cabral López loved to dance, especially to Norteña music. The night before he left Villa Juárez, Sonora, for the United States, the 22-year old gathered with friends, dancing to the bouncy swing of his favorite songs. He called his mother from the border a few days later — just…

DNA test's slow path often holds last hope for a name

It all matches: the gap-toothed smile in the photograph looks just like the gap in the skull. The age on the voter card matches those of the remains. The sun-bleaching of the 44 bones coincides with the amount of time the illegal border crosser has been missing.

"We have him. At least we can bring him flowers."

Jesús is coming home. He isn't returning to the arms of the mother who has prayed for his safe return since he left for the United States on May 8, 2006. Or coming to visit the father who had such dreams that his son would have an easier life north of the border.