CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The bodies of 48 undocumented migrants have been recovered in their brush country.
Summer officially started this week with the heat index over 100.
The Brooks County Sheriff's Office said this season will be a long one for them and the undocumented immigrants traveling on foot through thick brush.
Almost everyday, the body of an undocumented immigrant is recovered in the brush lands of Brooks County.
"I've seen some in their teens. I saw one the other day of this lady. She was 47," said the Brooks County deputy.
Officials said that immigrants will pay a coyote, which is a guide, who will pick them up and take them near the checkpoint and drop them off. However many die on the dangerous journey.
"No water, no food, injuries whether it be from animal bites, insects, stickers, their feet, they don't have the proper footwear or clothes," said a Brooks County investigator.
Brooks County has a mobile morgue that fits up to 30 bodies. Currently, there are 25 bodies in the morgue.
"To me, it's probably seeing the bodies that just passed a few hours before we find them. If we had found them a few hours before, we probably would've been able to help them and they'd still be alive," said the deputy.
In some cases, the migrants do survive the journey.
"We want to help them. We're trying to save lives. This guy was giving up and was waving traffic down and passer byers called it in and we were able to locate him," said the deputy.
The deputy was referring to a man from Guatemala who camped near Brooks County for two days until he couldn't handle the heat anymore.
"I feel better knowing my family isn't worried about how I am. "Is he alive, is he dead, if I'm eating," said the traveling migrant.
He said he paid the guide $10,000 to get him to Brooks County. He was taken by border patrol where he will be processed.
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