4 Migrants Found Dead on Texas Border in as Many Days

Laredo Sector Border Patrol agents found the bodies of four migrants who died while attempting to cross the border from Mexico into Texas. They apparently drowned in the Rio Grande River during a four-day period.

Border Patrol agents assigned to the Laredo Sector Marine Unit observed a migrant floating in the Rio Grande River near Rio Bravo, Texas, on the afternoon of October 10. The agents recovered the body and contacted the Webb County Medical Examiner’s Office to take charge of the remains, according to Laredo Sector Border Patrol officials.

The Webb County Medical Examiner’s Office is responsible for identifying the deceased migrants not only in Webb County, but several other counties in South Texas.

The following day, land-based agents working near Zapata, Texas, observed another deceased migrant floating in the river. The agents contacted a Texas Parks and Wildlife river unit who responded to recover the remains and turn them over to the medical examiner for identification.

Over the weekend, agents patrolling near Laredo, Texas, observed two more deceased migrants in the river in separate incidents on Saturday and Sunday. As the bodies were closer to the Mexican side of the river, agents contacted the Nuevo Laredo Fire Department in Mexico to make the recoveries.

At least 306 migrants have died after or during illegal border crossing attempts this year, according to the Missing Migrant Project. Nearly two hundred of those have been recovered in Texas — more than 60 in the Laredo Sector.

“The Laredo Sector Border Patrol will continue to warn against the dangers of people crossing illegally into the United States through dangerous environmental conditions,” Border Patrol officials said in a written statement. “Our Border Safety Initiative (BSI) is a humanitarian, bi-national strategy designed to reduce illegal alien deaths, educate and inform potential illegal aliens of the dangers and hazards of crossing the border illegally, and to respond to those who are in life-threatening situations.”