Southern Border Deaths Surge Due to Dehydration, Drowning; Texas Morgues Overwhelmed

Residents in South and Central America hear about migrants getting off buses into new lives in places like New York and Washington, DC, but they probably don't realize how many people are dying to get there.

A 5-year-old girl and a 3-year-old child were allegedly killed while attempting to cross the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Tuesday while a newborn was left fighting for life.

Morgueds Run Out of Space Amid Deaths Surge in Southern Border

According to reports, the town's morgues are now overcrowded, unable to keep up with the number of migrants who die while crossing the Rio Grande. The perilous journey across the fast-flowing river that separates Mexico and Texas has taken more lives in recent weeks than locals can handle. A recent downpour exacerbated the already dangerously high water levels. Children and pregnant women are among those who perish.

A Maverick County funeral home director told The Post that he has had to stack dead due to a lack of room. The most recent revelation was very heartbreaking. "We just got another baby - a baby. "I'm so angry I saw a baby," Schermber said. The New York Post showed heartbreaking photos of migrants discovered dead in Eagle Pass in recent months, including bodies that appeared bloated and distended from being in the water, faces crusted with blood leaked from the mouth and nose, and, perhaps most horrifying, a deceased toddler pulled from the river.

The funeral home director recounted decomposed remains drifting down the river, which arrived in quantities he'd never seen in his years of working in the funeral industry. "There have been 16 instances in three days." And it's not going away; in fact, it's growing worse. This is no longer something I desire. "It's too depressing," said the 42-year-old, who requested anonymity.

Official Urges President Joe Biden To Visit Southern Border

According to US Customs and Border Protection figures, federal officials on the US southern border have undertaken 18,897 migrant search and rescues since October, exceeding the previous year's 12,833 life-saving attempts. Over the last year, migrants interviewed by CNN near the US-Mexico border have cited violence, climate change, and economic downturns in their home countries as motivators for their perilous travels to America.

A 20-year-old Nicaraguan national who entered Maverick County this week and was waiting for Border Patrol officers to pick him up when CNN spoke with him mentioned equal rights for the LGBTQ community as one of the reasons migrants desire to come here.

After 53 migrants perished this summer in a scorching tractor-trailer in San Antonio, Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas expressed heartbreak and labeled human traffickers callous criminals who must be held accountable for the deaths of migrants.

On Tuesday, at about 10 am, his deputies received a report from Border Patrol regarding a guy drifting in the river. Schmerber says he doesn't agree with all of Texas Governor Gregg Abbott's border plans, but he applauds Abbott for investing millions of dollars and deploying hundreds of employees to strengthen border security in his state. However, Schmerber, a veteran Border Patrol agent who is now a sheriff, says he understands immigration is a federal government responsibility and hopes President Joe Biden visits the border to see the reality on the ground.