A member of the Texas National Guard from the US looks across the Rio Grande to Mexico at Eagle Pass, Texas, on Aug.
Eric Gay / AP
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Eric Gay / AP
A member of the Texas National Guard from the US looks across the Rio Grande to Mexico at Eagle Pass, Texas, on Aug.
Eric Gay / AP
At least eight migrants were found dead in the Rio Grande after dozens tried to make the perilous crossing near Eagle Pass, Texas, officials said Friday.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection and Mexican officials made the discovery Thursday while responding to a large group of people crossing the river after days of heavy rain resulted in particularly rapid flows. American officials recovered six bodies, while Mexican teams recovered two others, according to a CBP statement.
The agency said American crews rescued 37 others from the river and arrested 16 others, while Mexican authorities detained 39 migrants. CBP said officials on both sides of the border continue to search for any possible victims.
The CPB did not say which country the migrants were from and did not provide any further information on the rescue or search. The local Texas agencies involved did not immediately respond to requests for additional information.
The Border Patrol’s Del Rio area, which includes Eagle Pass, is fast becoming the busiest corridor for illegal border crossings. Agents stopped migrants nearly 50,000 times in the field in July, with the Rio Grande Valley coming in second at around 35,000.
The region attracts migrants from dozens of countries, many of them in families with young children. About six out of ten stops in the Del Rio area during July are migrants from Venezuela, Cuba or Nicaragua.
This area, which extends 245 miles (395 km) along the Río Grande, is particularly dangerous because the river’s currents can be very rapid and change rapidly. River crossing can be a challenge even for strong swimmers.
In a press release last month, CPB said it had discovered the bodies of more than 200 migrants who died in the field between October and July.
Surveys by the United Nations’ International Organization for Migration and other organizations show a growing number of deaths as the number of border crossing attempts has skyrocketed. Over the past three decades, thousands of people have died trying to enter the United States from Mexico, often from dehydration or drowning.
In June, 53 migrants were found dead or dead in a trailer on a back street in San Antonio in the deadliest tragedy to claim the lives of migrants smuggled across the country. border from Mexico.
