Official U.S. statistics indicate that more than 1,500 Mexican migrants have died from the coronavirus while in the United States. The Mexican government says about half of them lost their lives in New York. 

This week, Mexico repatriated the bodies of 245 migrant workers who died of COVID-19 months after they died. 

Mexican officials arrived on a jet carrying 245 urns, each containing the cremated remains of migrant workers who died of COVID-19 in New York.

The urns were turned over to families, who had waited months for news about the remains of their deceased loved ones. They had no idea if the dead would stay in the United State or be repatriated to their homeland.

At a ceremony in Puebla, the Mexican consular official of New York, Jorge Islas, expressed gratitude to the deceased migrants for their service. 

"Thank you for your efforts and courage. Because of your commitment, New York City has been able to survive this pandemic. Each day, these migrants brought food to the tables of many people in New York," Islas said. 

Families of the deceased migrants were told how their relatives sacrificed their own lives in order to earn a living in the U.S. and send money to their struggling wives, children and parents in Mexico. 

Heart-wrenching stories like this are taking place all across Mexico as millions of families worry about the safety and health of their brothers and sisters, mothers and fathers who migrated to the United States.

In the town of Atlixco, Puebla, CGTN was invited into the home of Vicenta Trinidad. Her son, Willy, migrated to the United States 25 years ago. 

Willy made an honest living in New York City’s restaurant industry. During the height of the coronavirus outbreak, he was an essential worker. Both he and his brother contracted COVID-19 and were hospitalized. Willy did not survive. 

The mother of a deceased Mexican migrant worker, Vicenta Trinidad said, "It made me very happy and at the same time sad because I never expected to receive him this way. 

I always thought my children would bury me and never imagined I would bury one of them first," she said.

With her son’s remains now back in Mexico, Trinidad and her family are trying to return to life as it was before. She worries about her two other migrant sons who are still working in the United States.  

"I was in a very bad state, sad, depressed. But now that I have him here with us I feel better. I thank God for that. My son is here now, and I do not have to worry where his remains would stay. Finally, he is here,"she said. 

After placing the ash urn on a family altar in the living room, the members of this grieving Mexican family want to send a clear message to the rest of the world: Willy was not a number. He was a human being, and he will be missed forever.

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