Free Republic

BROOKS COUNTY -- It's just before noon in the tangled woods of La Copa Ranch. U.S. Border Patrol Agent Rick Garcia makes his first discovery of the day. Through the web of mesquite brush and weeds, the footsteps of three immigrants crunch louder on the blanket of dead leaves as they approach the weathered ranch path. Garcia's partner, K-9 agent Chico, just found the immigrants struggling through the woods. Garcia asks the exhausted group in Spanish whether any of them have weapons, then how long they have been traveling on foot. "Two days," one woman replied in Spanish. The group...

The summer months are especially deadly for undocumented immigrants who cut through the desert to cross the U.S.-Mexico border. So far this year, 319 people have died, and many more have been rescued by specially trained teams of Border Patrol agents. Border Patrol agents on all-terrain vehicles scour the desert in the heat of the day. "I've seen guys walk 10 miles in this kind of weather — agents — and you're pretty exhausted after this kind of heat," Border Patrol agent Harold Loomus said. The agents can cover more ground, more quickly on ATVs. "We're here to save lives...