At least 120 migrants have died so far this year in a rural Texas county about 80 miles from the Texas-Mexico border. Nearly all were found dead on ranches near the U.S. Border Patrol immigration checkpoint between McAllen and Corpus Christi.
“It has been a devastating year in our county,” Brooks County Sheriff Benny Martinez told Breitbart Texas. “It has been a long time since we have seen this many deaths in one year, and this has only been nine months.”
Martinez said his deputies and Border Patrol agents recovered the bodies or skeletal remains of at least 120 migrants this year. This includes ten deaths recorded in a violent crash when a van loaded with 30 rolled over and struck a light pole in a human smuggling attempt.
Rollover crash in August 2021 leaves ten migrants dead and 20 more injured. Photo: Brooks County Sheriff’s Office
In one of the most gruesome discoveries so far, Brooks County Sheriff’s Office dispatchers received a call on Thursday from Falfurrias Station Border Patrol agents regarding the remains of a suspected migrant found hanging by the neck from a tree, Breitbart Texas reported.
Border Patrol agents and Brooks County sheriff’s deputies recovered the remains of a migrant found hanging in a tree on a ranch 80 miles from the Texas-Mexico border. (Photo: Brooks County Sheriff’s Office)
“We have never seen anything like this in our county,” Sheriff Martinez said on Friday. “We regularly find deceased migrants in this county, but never anything like this. This is what our deputies and the Border Patrol agents have to deal with here.”
“We aren’t sure if the migrant was hanged or if he did this to himself,” the sheriff explained. “We will have to wait on a full autopsy to figure out what really happened.”
Brooks County deputies recover the body of a migrant who died just minutes before being found by Border Patrol agents. (Photo: Brooks County Sheriff’s Office)
On September 21, dispatchers received another call regarding the discovery of a deceased migrant on a ranch located near the Border Patrol checkpoint. Border Patrol officials reported receiving an emergency call from a family member of the decedent who said he was lost. The family member gave officials the GPS location of the migrants.
Agents found the location about 20-30 minutes later, but the migrant had already succumbed to his exposure to the heat and elements.
In another incident, Border Patrol agents contacted Brooks County dispatchers regarding the decomposing remains of a female migrant found in the same area as the man above. Deputies arrived at the scene to find the partially eaten body of a woman lying on her back with her arms and legs outstretched.
Deputies find a deceased migrant woman on a ranch near the immigration checkpoint in Brooks County. (Photo: Brooks County Sheriff’s Office)
During the initial investigation, the deputy found some currency and jewelry but did not find any identification. The local justice of the peace, declared the woman to have died from natural causes — heat exhaustion/dehydration.
On September 6, deputies again responded to a call regarding a deceased male found on a different ranch in another part of the county. The deputies found the man lying on his back in the brush. Again, no identification documents were found with the remains.
Brooks County deputies recover the body of another deceased male migrant in a known human smuggling area. (Photo: Brooks County Sheriff’s Office)
“As long as the policies of the Biden Administration remain there is no end in sight to this train of death,” Sheriff Martinez. “The ruthless smugglers will continue to exploit these vulnerable people and then leave them in Brooks County to die.”
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.