Migrant Deaths, Rescues Mount near Border as Texas Heat Rises

Rising temperatures near the Texas-Mexico Border are tasking Border Patrol agents with increasing numbers of rescues and body recoveries.

Duval County Sheriff’s Office dispatchers received a 911 call on Saturday from a woman claiming to be lost in the brush near Hebbronville, Texas. The woman said she was traveling with a man who desperately needed medical attention, according to information obtained by Breitbart Texas from Laredo Sector Border Patrol officials.

Dispatchers notified the Hebbronville Border Patrol Station who quickly sent a BORSTAR team and a National Guard helicopter assigned to Operation Guardian Support to search for the two migrants who had been abandoned by human smugglers.

Teamwork between the Border Patrol agents and the National Guard helicopter led to the quick discovery of the woman. She led the agents to her traveling companion. Unfortunately, the agents found the man to be unresponsive when they arrived. Officials later declared him to be deceased.

BORSTAR agents treated the woman with intravenous fluids. After determining the woman had returned to good health, the agents transported her to the Hebbronville Station for processing. Officials determined the woman was a Guatemalan national as was her 34-year-0ld companion.

One day earlier, Laredo Sector agents assigned to the Laredo West Station responded to a 911 call for help after one member of a group of illegal aliens became weak from dehydration. Agents carried out a search and found a 30-year-old Nicaraguan man in need of medical attention. The agents quickly transported the dehydrated man and three other illegal aliens found with him to the Laredo West Station where an emergency medical technician evaluated the man and treated him with intravenous fluids. The other three people did not require medical attention.

Agents said those three illegal aliens came to the U.S. from Honduras and Guatemala.

The agents were assisted in the search by information provided form Laredo Dispatch, the Special Operations Detachment, and a U.S. Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations helicopter aircrew.

“This event is a shining example of why our agents are trained as emergency medical technicians, who are able to respond to any individual in distress.  The U.S. Border Patrol cannot stress enough about the dangers that come with traversing harsh terrain and unforgiving weather conditions,” said Laredo Sector Chief Patrol Agent Jason D. Owens.