Migrant Rescued After Being Abandoned by Human Smugglers, 2 More Die

Rio Grande Valley Sector agents rescued a migrant who became injured near the Texas border with Mexico. Human smugglers abandoned and left him to die after he could no longer keep pace.

Starr County Sheriff’s Office dispatchers received a 911 on March 5 call about a man in distress who became injured while being smuggled into Texas, according to information obtained by Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol officials. Sheriff’s Office dispatchers contacted Border Patrol agents assigned to the Rio Grande City Station who initiated a search and rescue operation.

The agents utilized the migrant’s cell phone GPS coordinates to locate him near La Grulla. After making contact, agents provided assistance and waited for an ambulance to transport him to a local hospital for treatment. The Mexican national remains hospitalized and will be released to Border Patrol agents for removal processing.

One day earlier, Falfurrias Station agents received information from a ranch worker about skeletal remains he found. The agents joined Brooks County Sheriff’s Office deputies and a local justice of the peace in recovering the remains.

McAllen Station agents also found a deceased migrant on Wednesday. The agents came upon a deceased migrant floating in the Rio Grande on the Mexican side of the river. The agents contacted Mexican officials who recovered the body of the migrant.

“Human smugglers have no regard for the lives of the people they smuggle into this country,” Brooks County Sheriff Benny Martinez told Breitbart Texas in a phone interview. “If someone gets injured, like this man in Starr County, or they get dehydrated, overheated, suffer hypothermia in the winter, or for any other reason cannot keep up, the cartel-connected human smugglers simply abandon them and leave them to die.”

Martinez said his deputies recovered at least 11 additional sets of skeletal remains in January and February. In 2019, officials recovered the bodies or remains of 45 migrants who died after being abandoned.

One of those, a Mexican woman who was about to celebrate her 33rd birthday, managed to call 911 for help after being abandoned in Brooks County, Breitbart Texas reported. She and her husband became lost after being abandoned on a ranch in the southern part of the county on November 30. Her husband said she appeared to be having a heart attack.

Agents and deputies quickly began a search and found the couple. The woman appeared to be unconscious and was foaming at the mouth, Deputy Bianca Mora reported at the time. Despite the efforts of Border Patrol agents and paramedics, the woman died.

So far this year, at least 26 migrants have been found dead while or shortly after crossing the Mexican border into the U.S. — 12 of those in Brooks County alone.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior news contributor for the Breitbart Texas-Border team. He is an original member of the Breitbart Texas team. Price is a regular panelist on Fox 26 Houston’s What’s Your Point? Sunday-morning talk show. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX and Facebook.