Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector saved the lives of four illegal immigrants this week. Unfortunately, four other migrants died during human smuggling operations in South Texas.
Heavy rains took the life of one migrant Kenedy County, about 80 miles from the Texas-Mexico border. Agents assigned to the Kingsville station came upon a group of illegal aliens on June 22 who were attempting to circumvent the Sarita Border Patrol Checkpoint located on U.S. Highway 77 between Brownsville and Kingsville. The illegal aliens told the agents that one member of their group was swept away while crossing the rain-swollen Los Olmos Creek, according to information obtained by Breitbart Texas from U.S. Customs and Border Protection officials on Friday.
The agents conducted an extensive search of the area and eventually found the body of a deceased man that appeared to match the description given by the other migrants.
On June 26, Brownsville Riverine agents rescued a man who struggled to stay afloat in the Rio Grande River after attempting to flee apprehension by other agents. The agents took the man into custody and transported him to the Brownsville Station for processing on immigration charges.
The following day, agents assigned to the McAllen Station came across the body of another man while they were patrolling on a ranch near Sullivan City, Texas. The man was apparently abandoned by human smugglers and succumbed to the heat and lack of water.
A few hours later, a National Guard helicopter assigned to assist Border Patrol agents under Operation Guardian Support spotted what they believed to be a body floating in the Rio Grande River near Peñitas, Texas. McAllen Station agents responded and confirmed the death.
Deputies from the Hidalgo County Sheriff’s Office came to both death scenes and took custody of the remains.
Brooks County Sheriff’s Office deputies contacted Border Patrol agents assigned to the Falfurrias Station on Thursday after they received a call about two migrants who were lost on a ranch about 80 miles from the border. The agents responded and found two migrants who had been abandoned and left to die by their human smugglers. The agents saved one of the Guatemalan nationals. However, the second man did not have a pulse. A justice of the peace declared the man to be deceased and deputies took custody of the man’s remains.
Brooks County deputies received another 911 call on Friday regarding two more lost migrants. The caller said one of the men was unable to walk due to exhaustion. The soil in this region is extremely soft said that makes the march around the Falfurrias Checkpoint even more strenuous, Brooks County Sheriff Benny Martinez told Breitbart Texas previously.
Agents from the Special Operations Detachment and an Air and Marine Operations (AMO) helicopter responded and found the two men. The AMO aircrew transported the ailing man to the Falfurrias Checkpoint.
There, agents provided medical assistance to the two men, identified as brothers who are Salvadoran nationals. One of the brothers required additional medical treatment and a Texas Air Med ambulance arrived and flew the man to a regional hospital for evaluation and treatment.