Migrant Woman Dies on Texas Ranch 80 Miles from Mexican Border

First responders in Brooks County, Texas, attempted to revive a Mexican migrant woman who apparently suffered a heart attack after being abandoned by cartel-connected human smugglers. The woman did not respond to CPR or other techniques and died at the scene.

Brooks County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Bianca Mora received information about a pair of lost migrants on a ranch in the southern portion of the jurisdiction on November 30, according to information released this week. Deputy Mora teamed up with Border Patrol agents to locate the migrants.

At about 1:51 p.m., Brooks County dispatchers received a 911 call from a man who said his wife appeared to be having a heart attack. The man identified himself as Joel Camillo.

Dispatchers provided Border Patrol agents with the GPS coordinates from the call. At the scene, they found the woman to be unconscious and foaming at the mouth, officials stated. The agents determined the woman had no pulse and began CPR chest compressions.

The agents loaded the woman and her husband into Border Patrol vehicles and continued chest compressions as they drove her out of the ranch onto U.S. Highway 281. The agents transported the woman to the Falfurrias Checkpoint where they met up with EMS personnel.

Agents utilized an Artificial External Defibrillator at the checkpoint to try and save the woman. When the EMS ambulance arrived, the crew attempted additional life-saving techniques to no avail. After consulting via radio with an ER doctor, the ambulance crew ceased life-saving efforts.

The woman’s husband identified her as Esmeralda Torres-Carmona, a 32-year-old Mexican national. She would have turned 33 on Christmas Eve.

The local justice of the peace made the statutory declaration of death and ordered an autopsy. Funeral home officials arranged transportation of the woman’s body to the Webb County Medical Examiner’s office in Laredo.

The Mexican woman is the 45th migrant to be found dead in Brooks County this year. The county is located approximately 80 miles north of the Texas border with Mexico.

So far this year, at least 351 migrants died while or shortly after crossing the border from Mexico into the U.S. At least 223 of those deaths occurred in Texas, according to the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrant Project.