U.S. Border Patrol - Rio Grande Valley Sector, has apprehended 221, 115 migrants along the Rio Grande, who have crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally through April 2021. Many try to avoid agents by contracting a smuggler to guide them around checkpoints. Walking for days on private ranches, many are left behind to die in the brush. Brooks County and the Rio Grande Valley to the south have been popular smuggling routes for decades, a reliable barometer of migrant deaths borderwide. Six months into 2021, deaths in the county had already reached 55, up from a total of 34 last year and above the five-year average.

U.S. Border Patrol discovers the remains of deceased male migrant, Alfonso Nieto Valladares, 25, of Honduras, on a ranch in Brooks County in Encino, Texas.

A group of migrants consisting of one Mexican and nine Central Americans are caught by U.S. Border Patrol after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in McAllen, Texas.

Oney Figueroa, 22, of Honduras, collapses from exhaustion after trying to run from U.S. Border Patrol agents, shown with Eduardo Mejia, 34, left, and Antonio Herrera, 42, of Honduras, in McAllen, Texas.

U.S. Border Patrol Agent Jesse Moreno, of the Rio Grande Valley Sector, looks for migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in Mission, Texas.

Mileydi Barrela, 26, of Honduras, and daughter Zoe Barrela, eight, who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, wait to board a bus to be processed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection in La Joya, Texas.

Eduardo Mejia, 34, Oney Figueroa, 22, and Antonio Herrera, 42, of Honduras, are caught by U.S. Border Patrol, after crossing the U.S.-Mexico border illegally in McAllen, Texas.

Migrants who crossed the U.S.-Mexico border illegally, prepare to board a bus to be processed by U.S. Customs and Border Protection, Rio Grande Valley Sector, in La Joya, Texas.

Alonzo Rangel, funeral director of Funeraria Del Angel, covers the remains of deceased female migrant, Rosario Yanira Girón de Orellana, 40, of El Salvador, found on a ranch in Brooks County in Falfurrias, Texas.

Alonzo Rangel, funeral director of Funeraria Del Angel, and Brooks County Deputy Raul Narvaez load the remains of deceased female migrant, Rosario Yanira Girón de Orellana, 40, of El Salvador, found on a ranch in Brooks County in Falfurrias, Texas.

A rosary found with the remains of deceased female migrant, Rosario Yanira Girón de Orellana, 40, of El Salvador, drapes her waist, at the Brooks County Sheriff’s Office in Falfurrias, Texas. Read the story at https://lat.ms/350kEvb
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