EXCLUSIVE: Eight Migrants Found Dead in January in Texas County 80 Miles from Border

Brooks County, Texas, officials report the remains of at least eight migrants found on ranches surrounding a Border Patrol immigration checkpoint in January. This figure is up from three in January 2021.

Brooks County Sheriff Benny Martinez told Breitbart Texas his deputies and Border Patrol agents recovered the skeletal remains of eight migrants in January. The sheriff said this indicates the continuation of a disturbing trend from last year when the county, located about 80 miles from the Texas border with Mexico, reported the deaths of at least 129 migrants.

“Last year was a horrible year for migrant deaths in our county,” Martinez told Breitbart Texas. “Now we are not only seeing the trend continue, but it is growing at more than double last year’s rate.”

The recovery of migrant remains began on January 5 when Brooks County Sheriff’s Office Deputy Juan Arredondo responded to a 911 call from cable burying contractors regarding the discovery of human remains along U.S. Highway 281. The worker found the remains along the northbound lanes under some black trash bags.

The deputy recovered the remains that included a femur, ribs, backbones, scapula, and other bones from the decedent. The deputy also found a greenish/blue sweater and a blue backpack. The deputy did not recover any identification.

Sheriff Martinez said the remains of the eight deceased migrants are transported to the Webb County Medical Examiner’s Office where the team attempts to identify the decedent and make notifications to family members.

The sheriff indicated all of the remains had decomposed to skeletal level. This makes identification and time of death calculations much more difficult.

In total, the deputies in Brooks County recovered eight sets of human remains. Only one of the eight recoveries included the finding of identification documents. Two others included the recovery of cell phones — one with a U.S. phone number written on the case.

“The coyotes could care less about the lives of the people they move through Brooks County,” the sheriff previously told Breitbart. “They march them through the ranches here in the cold of winter or the heat of summer. If a migrant falls behind, gets injured or sick, they just leave them behind to die.”

“President Biden removed all the guard rails put in place by the prior administration at one time,” the sheriff, a Democrat, explained. “Since that time, the number of deaths skyrocketed.”

“The governor’s initiative has been a good move for Texas,” Martinez said regarding Governor Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star. “We must go back to building the wall, adding technology, and putting Border Patrol agents back to work. We must secure the border.”

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.

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