For Every Dead Body Found, 5 to 10 More Out There: Texas Sheriff on Illegal Alien Deaths

Benny Martinez, then-chief deputy of the Brooks County Sheriff's Office, carries the remains of a suspected illegal immigrant on a ranch in Falfurrias, Texas, on May 22, 2013. John Moore/Getty Images

In Texas, 70 miles north of the U.S.–Mexico border, a rural sheriff’s office spends more than 85 percent of its time on border-related issues.

Often it’s to search for illegal immigrants who have called 911 and are lost, dehydrated, or injured as they walk on private ranchland in an attempt to skirt the nearby highway checkpoint that Border Patrol operates.