EXCLUSIVE: Migrant Dies on Texas Ranch Despite Extensive Rescue Efforts

Despite the efforts of a Border Patrol EMT and local EMS first responders, a migrant died on a ranch in South Texas in Brooks County located about 80 miles from the border with Mexico. The agent applied CPR for approximately 20 minutes before local EMS took over.

Border Patrol agents and a Brooks County Sheriff’s Office deputy responded to a call on the night of August 2 about a lost migrant in distress on a ranch located north of the Falfurrias Border Patrol Checkpoint on U.S. Highway 281, according to information provided by Brooks County Sheriff’s Office officials. A responding Border Patrol agent found the migrant unresponsive and began CPR in an attempt to save his life.

“On August 2, 2020, agents responded to an emergency call regarding an unresponsive subject in Brooks County,” Rio Grande Valley Sector Border Patrol officials said in response to an inquiry from Breitbart Texas. “Upon locating the man, a Border Patrol Emergency Medical Technician assessed the situation and began CPR but resuscitation efforts were not successful.”

After performing CPR for about 20 minutes, a local EMS ambulance arrived and took over resuscitation efforts, officials reported. The efforts by EMS and Border Patrol to save the man’s life failed and a local justice of the peace declared him dead and ordered an autopsy.

During the investigation, officials found a cell phone, a black wallet containing $4,220 pesos, and a Mexican identification card issued to Mario Misael Nava Martinez, a 29-year-old from Matamoros, Tamaulipas. The identity of the migrant will be determined by the Webb County Medical Examiner’s Office in Laredo, Texas, following an autopsy.

Brooks County Deputy Sheriff Samuel Rosas turned the decedent’s body over to the local funeral home who will arrange transportation to the medical examiner.

Brooks County Sheriff Benny Martinez told Breitbart Texas that their office has recovered the remains of bodies of 22 people so far this year. “That is about half of the 2019 total number of recoveries,” Martinez said. “This is despite the much lower number of illegal crossings into South Texas this year.”

“Callous human smugglers lead these people on a journey they are not prepared for,” the sheriff explained. “Frequently, they will simply abandon them and leave them to die if they cannot keep up with the group.”

Nationally, at least 170 people died while or shortly after illegally crossing the border from Mexico into the United States, according to the International Organization for Migration’s Missing Migrant Project.

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.