epatriation can increase the cost of a funeral significantly. The average cost of a funeral in 1999, the latest figures available, was $5,020, according to the National Funeral Director’s General Price List survey. A repatriation can cost up to $8,000, according to Ruggiero, although the cost can vary widely depending on the destination.

While a special container and consular fee are often required, the majority of the costs stem from the airlines' cargo rates, says Kasler. In addition to the paperwork required by the consulate, the container oftentimes needs to be inspected by consular officers to ensure that all requirements are being met and that nothing is being smuggled.

It isn’t just the consideration of expense or consular regulations that can stand in the way of a repatriation. Discrimination can also play a role.

Kasler recalls a time in the early 1990s, when the first intifada still raged in Israel, when a Palestinian family attempted to have a man shipped back for burial.

"It took more than four weeks before we were able to clear him to be shipped back," says Kasler. "They took so long, a rabbi friend of mine offered to intervene on his behalf. It was only too obvious what the consulate’s problem was – a Jewish Israeli could have expected to be back in a couple days."

uggiero had a similar experience. After several days of pressing the Israeli consulate to take action on behalf of his Palestinian client, he says he finally called El-Al, the Israeli national airline, in an effort to expedite the process. He explained the situation to an employee at the airline, and was greeted with a long pause after giving his client’s name.

"That doesn’t sound Israeli," said the employee, according to Ruggiero. Ruggiero assured him that his client was from Israel, and also a Palestinian. He says the El-Al employee told him, "Listen, do yourself a favor and ask another airline."

But sometimes the problem can come from officials of an immigrant’s own homeland. "They figure that you left to have a better life somewhere else," says Ruggiero. "Why do you want to return? You know: This country wasn’t good enough for you before, why do you want to come back now?"

But it is problems such as these that create a demand for the services offered by funeral directors like Kasler, Ruggiero and Scotto. And it is the uninterrupted flow of new immigrants to New York and the United States that ensures that some will always want to return to the land of their birth.