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Three Children and a Woman Are Found Dead Along the Border in Texas Three Children and a Woman Are Found Dead Along the Border in Texas
(about 3 hours later)
MCALLEN, Tex. — The bodies of what appeared to be a migrant woman in her 20s and three children — two infants and a toddler — were found at the edge of the Rio Grande near the South Texas city of McAllen on Sunday night, the authorities said. MCALLEN, Tex. — The bodies of what appeared to be a migrant woman in her 20s and three children — two infants and a toddler — were found Sunday night near the edge of the Rio Grande outside the South Texas city of McAllen, the authorities said.
Migrant deaths happen with a grim regularity along parts of America’s southwestern border, largely when adults and unaccompanied teenagers succumb to the harsh conditions or a lack of water and die of dehydration, heat stroke or hypothermia. But the discovery on Sunday was unusual — it is rare for officials to discover dead migrant children on the American side of the border, and rarer still for the bodies of three children to be found together at the same time. Migrant deaths happen with grim regularity along parts of America’s southwestern border, largely when adults and unaccompanied teenagers succumb to harsh desert conditions or a lack of water, and die of dehydration, heat stroke or hypothermia. The discovery on Sunday was unusual — it is rare for officials to discover dead migrant children on the American side of the border, and rarer still for the bodies of three children to be found together.
“Most of the time we usually find either adults or teenagers, but this is the first time we’ve actually found infants and toddlers, and it is pretty shocking for us,” said the Hidalgo County sheriff, J.E. Guerra, who broke the news of the discovery on Twitter late Sunday night. “Most of the time, we usually find either adults or teenagers, but this is the first time we’ve actually found infants and toddlers, and it is pretty shocking for us,” said the Hidalgo County sheriff, J.E. Guerra, who broke the news of the discovery on Twitter late Sunday night.
Sheriff Guerra said it did not appear that the four had drowned in crossing the river, but said it was possible that they died of dehydration. Officials said there were as yet no signs of foul play, and that the four may have died from dehydration and heat exposure. The bodies appeared to be those of undocumented immigrants, but neither their identities nor their country of origin had been determined on Monday.
The four bodies were found by Border Patrol agents across the river from Reynosa, Mexico, in an area on the United States side of the border that is heavily traveled by Central American families. Migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have crossed the border by the thousands in recent months, overwhelming Border Patrol agents, nonprofit groups and local officials.
Migrants from El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras have crossed the border by the thousands in recent months, overwhelming Border Patrol agents, nonprofit groups and local officials. The bodies were discovered in a brush-covered region southeast of the Anzalduas Park in Las Palomas Wildlife Management Area. Because the bodies were found in federally owned parkland, Sheriff Guerra said the Federal Bureau of Investigation would lead the investigation. The four bodies were found by Border Patrol agents across the river from Reynosa, Mexico, in an area on the United States side of the border that is heavily traveled by Central American families. They were in a brush-covered region southeast of Anzalduas Park in the Las Palomas Wildlife Management Area. The Federal Bureau of Investigation was leading the investigation because the bodies were found on federal land.
[Death on the Rio Grande: President Trump’s immigration clampdown has pushed migrants toward perilous river crossings.][Death on the Rio Grande: President Trump’s immigration clampdown has pushed migrants toward perilous river crossings.]
The sheriff said he believed the woman was the mother of some but not all of the children. “The area where they were at appeared to be a staging area, according to my sergeant, where they come off the river and they stage until they walk farther into the U.S. and then they give themselves up to federal authorities,” the sheriff said. “It’s an incredibly heart breaking situation, which seems to happen far too often,” Special Agent Michelle Lee, a spokeswoman for the F.B.I. in San Antonio, said in a statement.
Early Monday morning, Anzalduas Park was quiet. The only noises were chirping birds and a slight ripple from the river, aside from the occasional Border Patrol truck or county constable vehicle driving by. The park — a 96-acre recreation area with picnic tables, playgrounds and a boat dock that is about six miles from downtown McAllen — has been a popular backdrop for visiting officials from Washington. President Trump passed through earlier this year during his only visit to the Texas-Mexico border as president.
The area near the park along the Rio Grande has been a migrant-crossing hub in Hidalgo County. Migrant families with children cross the river here in small or large groups on makeshift rafts, and then walk inland in search of Border Patrol agents so they can turn themselves in.
Migrant deaths are more common far north of the river’s edge, on private ranchland deeper into South Texas. In those areas, water is harder to find, the terrain is more isolated and expansive, and migrants often hike for days ill-prepared for the journey.
It was unclear what went wrong for the woman and children whose bodies were found: whether they had gotten lost in the brush in the heat, whether they were already ill when they crossed the river, whether they were abandoned by smugglers or other migrants. Sheriff Guerra said they were found in a makeshift staging area, a clearing near the river where groups of migrants often gather after they cross the river. From there, they typically walk deeper into the countryside to look for federal agents.
South Texas is always hot in June, but the heat has been extreme in recent days.
On Monday, the National Weather Service issued a “dangerous” heat advisory for the Rio Grande Valley region of South Texas, which includes McAllen. “Heat-related illnesses will likely occur for anyone working or playing outdoors for extended periods of time today,” the advisory said.
Over the last week in the valley, temperatures have regularly approached or exceeded 100 degrees Fahrenheit. Last Wednesday, the temperature hit 108 degrees.