Man drowns after running on border near Eagle Pass

U.S. Border Patrol agents recovered the body of a man who drowned near the U.S.-Mexico border in southwestern Texas late last week, Customs and Border Protection reported on Tuesday.

While monitoring a large cohort of people at the border last Friday, soldiers from the Texas National Guard had seen two men leave the group and dash into a gravel pit full of water.

“Texas National Guard told agents that the two individuals were part of a larger group observed running away from the soldiers,” a Customs and Border Protection news release stated.

One of the men, from Honduras, resurfaced from inside the waterfilled pit, the release stated.

The soldiers called agents at Border Patrol’s Eagle Pass south station for help. They responded with members of the Eagle Pass fire department to rescue the two men.

The Honduran man was found at the edge of the inundated gravel pit, according to Customs and Border Protection. He was transported to a local hospital after authorities decided he needed medical attention.

The other man was still submerged in the pit.

The Border Patrol’s dive unit was called in and on Saturday they recovered the body of the other man. Customs and Border Protection did not specify the man’s age, name or nationality.

Hundreds of migrants die attempting to cross the U.S.-Mexico border each year.

In December, the United Nation’s International Organization for Migration had already recorded at least 650 deaths of people trying to enter the United States from Mexico at that point in 2021, which was a record high since the organization began collecting data in 2014.

In fiscal year 2020, Customs and Border Protection reported 247 deaths at the southwest border – the majority occurred in Texas.

In 2021, Customs and Border Protection performed nearly 13,000 search and rescue efforts at the southwest border.