Migrant death count grows as Biden ignores the border

 Washington Examiner:

The fire department chief of a small Texas border county sees no end in sight for his weary team of first responders who every day recover migrant children and adults from the Rio Grande.

Manuel Mello III leads the Eagle Pass Fire Department in south-central Texas, an area that has become a top location for illegal migration nationwide. As more migrants attempt to cross the river as their final step in a long journey to the United States, many do not make it.

“Two years ago, we would probably make in a year's time about 20 to 25 drownings,” Mello told the Washington Examiner in a phone call Friday. “Right now, you're looking at maybe 30 body recoveries in a month.”

Mello’s team is not only responsible for responding to fire emergencies in the 75,000-resident Maverick County; they also handle all emergency medical services and have the only swift water rescue in the region. Not only is his staff working overtime at a rate they have never hit before and trying to manage with just four ambulances to respond to calls — they are struggling with the reality of pulling babies and children from the water.

The Border Patrol operates boats in the Rio Grande and will rescue migrants, but agents will not pull deceased migrants from the river, leaving it to the fire department to recover those who drowned. Sometimes, Mexican officials will call Mello to let him know about a body washed up in the overgrown brush that spans the U.S. side of the river. Because there is but one boat ramp into the river and bodies can be found miles up and down the river, it can be a time-consuming effort.
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Child drownings are becoming very common, he said, noting the death of a 3-year-old boy this week.

“We've been seeing a whole lot more children drowning — not like years past. I've been here 30 years. Once in a while, you'd see a child drowning. It was mostly male migrants that were crossing the river,” said Mello. “Now, we see people of all ages. It's just overwhelming because you'll see pregnant females. ... We had a family crossing, and they lost their children.”

The uptick in deaths comes as more people are being encountered attempting to enter the U.S. illegally than at any time in history. Given that more people are attempting to cross the river, the number who are unsuccessful is also rising.

Recently, the fire department pulled six bodies from the river in one day, and on that same day, Mexican first responders pulled six people from the south side of the river. In addition, the department recovers one to two bodies per week of migrants who died of dehydration and heat-related illnesses.
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Biden clearly does not care about the deaths his policy is creating and the impact on services in small border communities.  Neither he nor his "border czar" Kamala Harris will even visit the places where the carnage is happening.