HSI Arizona returns hundreds of pre-Columbian artifacts to Mexico HSI Arizona returns hundreds of pre-Columbian artifacts to Mexico (Source: U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement) By KOLD News 13 Staff | March 9, 2021 at 2:25 PM MST - Updated March 9 at 2:25 PM
TUCSON, Ariz. (KOLD News 13) - Homeland Security Investigations (HSI) returned 277 pre-Columbian artifacts to Mexican officials Tuesday during a repatriation ceremony in the Mexican Consulate in Nogales.
The pieces were recovered after two separate investigations by HSI special agents assigned to Phoenix and Nogales, Arizona. Scott Brown, special agent in charge of HSI Phoenix, presented the relics to Mexican Consul General Ambassador Ricardo Santana and Jose Luis Perea, director of the Mexican Institute for Anthropology and History (INAH) in Sonora, Mexico. The Mexican officials accepted the relics on behalf of the people of Mexico.