This week, authorities from the state of Texas retrieved the remains of two illegal migrants, one of whom was a 3-year-old suspected to have drowned trying to cross the southern border of the United States.
After receiving reports of a young child being carried off by the river’s current on Wednesday, the Texas Department of Public Safety spotted a 3-year-old boy in the Rio Grande, near the town of Eagle Pass, according to agency spokesman Ericka Brown. A local hospital confirmed the death.
Brown added that the Maverick County Sheriff’s Office was looking into the fatality that was discovered by Texas state troopers near Eagle Pass on Thursday morning.
Brown noted that both deaths were discovered away from the floating barricades Texas has placed up in the Rio Grande to stop illegal migrants from crossing. After ruling that the Biden administration would likely win in court, a federal judge ordered Texas to relocate the buoys to the riverbank. However, that judgment has been put on hold while a federal appeals court analyzes the issue so Texas may continue to utilize the maritime barriers.
Reports show several migrants have drowned this week, highlighting the severe risks they face in entering the United States illegally. The southern border has seen a dramatic increase in migrant fatalities in recent years, to the point that the United Nations has designated it the bloodiest land border in the world. Migrant fatalities near the southern U.S. border have increased dramatically in recent years.
According to official United States Border Patrol statistics, over 850 migrants were killed in fiscal year 2022. Experts and government authorities agree that this number, higher than the 546 fatalities reported in 2021, is likely underestimated. In a study released earlier this year, a government inspector concluded that the Border Patrol was not keeping complete statistics on migrant fatalities.
Recently, when asked about his priorities as Texas attorney general, Ken Paxton told the Just The News podcast that he plans to utilize the law to dismantle an illegal immigration encampment north of Houston as soon as possible.
