Mexican Migrant Found Dead on Texas Ranch 80 Miles from Border

A Texas sheriff’s office deputy recovered the body of a deceased migrant on a ranch located about 80 miles north of the Mexican border. This is the forty-third body or set of skeletal remains belonging to a deceased migrant in this single Texas county this year.

Brooks County Sheriff’s Office dispatchers sent Deputy J. Garcia to a ranch on the east side of the county on November 10 in regard to a report of a deceased migrant. The ranch is located in an area known to be a pickup location for migrants being smuggled around the Falfurrias Border Patrol Checkpoint.

Deputy Garcia arrived at the ranch where he contacted a Border Patrol agent, a local justice of the peace, and a funeral home worker, according to information provided by Brooks County Sheriff’s Office officials. The Border Patrol agent escorted the team approximately 7.3 miles into the ranch where Deputy Garcia observed the decedent on a dirt trail.

Garcia reported the decedent had been placed on the trail by “unknown subjects.” He stated the migrant was laying on his back with his arms placed on his chest. He was wearing two layers of shirts, blue jeans, a black belt, and blue tennis shoes with red and white stripes.

The deputy found a plastic bag containing personal property believed to belong to the decedent. The bag contained a wallet with papers bearing phone numbers, a $10 bill, and a Mexican identification card. The voter registration card was issued to a Placido Lando Sanchez, a 37-year-old Mexican national. It is not known if the card belongs to the decedent.

Garcia also found a ball cap, a cell phone, and a charger near the body.

The justice of the peace made the statutory declaration of death and the funeral home worker placed the body in a bag for transportation.

Brooks County officials will arrange for the body of the decedent to be transported to the Webb County Medical Examiner’s Office in Laredo, Texas, for positive identification and an autopsy to determine the cause of death.

Webb County Medical Examiner Dr. Corinne Stern told Breitbart News Tonight that her office is overwhelmed by the number of dead migrants being found in the 12 counties she serves. “We are in dire need of space,” Dr. Stern told Breitbart’s Alex Marlow and Brandon Darby during a November 12 interview. “We have two portable morgue units that are on loan to us from the Laredo City Health Department — they are full. We also have a large one from the State.”

She said the number of deaths surged this year as migrant border crossings skyrocketed in the region. Webb County led with 54 deaths. This is followed by Brooks (37), Maverick (24), Dimmit (11), Jim Hogg (10), Duval and Val Verde (6 each), Starr (3), and La Salle and Zapata (2 each). These numbers are of decedents received by her office.

While the increased border crossings led to the rise in deaths, Dr. Stern said the numbers would be much higher if not for the hundreds of rescues carried out by the Laredo, Del Rio, and Rio Grande Valley Sectors of the Border Patrol.

The death of the migrant reported above is the 43rd for Brooks County so far this year. Nationally, at least 345 migrants have been found dead while or shortly after illegally crossing the border from Mexico. More than 200 of those deaths occurred in Texas, according to the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrant Project.