Three more bodies of deceased illegal immigrants have been found in Brooks County, Texas. The individuals died while being smuggled around the Border Patrol checkpoint located just south of Falfurrias.

Brooks County is not a border county. In fact, it is located nearly 80 miles from the Texas/Mexico border. Over the past few years, hundreds of bodies have been found of these people who are simply left to die by human smugglers if they become injured or are simply too weak to keep up.

The heat of summer has not yet begun in South Texas, but already 21 bodies have been found in this one county alone.

Over the weekend, Brooks County Sheriff’s Deputy Elias Pompa was dispatched to meet with U.S. Border Patrol agents who discovered a body while tracking a group of illegal immigrants, information provided to Breitbart Texas revealed. Deputy Pompa was accompanied to the scene by Brooks County Justice of the Peace, Precinct 1, Adela Quintanilla.

When they arrived, they were escorted to the badly decomposing body of a 20-year-old Guatemalan man. Pompa told Breitbart Texas that Border Patrol agents came across the deceased man while they were tracking the group being smuggled around the Falfurrias Checkpoint.

“The Border Patrol agents were tracking the immigrants and the group walked right over the body,” Pompa said.

The body was found just south of Highway 285 a few miles west of the town of Falfurrias. A search revealed a Guatemalan identification card, a cell phone with a power chord and wall charger, a U.S. five dollar bill and a Guatemalan 100 Quetzales bill.

Pompa said the body was severely decomposed and had turned black. When the body was turned over a black shadow was left on the ground.

On Friday, Border Patrol agents followed up on information received from a “concerned citizen” and discovered another body in a remote location of the county, information provided by the U.S. Border Patrol to Breitbart Texas revealed.

Just two days earlier, another illegal immigrant captured by Border Patrol agents advised the agents he had seen a body along the trail. Agents backtracked from where they found the immigrant and discovered the remains of yet another dead person who died during their effort to illegally enter the U.S.

During an extensive ride-along program with the Brooks County Sheriff’s office in 2014, Breitbart Texas learned the illegal immigrants are often told the walk around the checkpoint is a very short hike and they will be picked up on the other side of the checkpoint. The reality is more like a three to four day march through hazardous conditions and very soft sand that makes one mile feel like five. If an illegal immigrant becomes injured or simply cannot keep up, they are left behind to die.

“Human smugglers will treat you like a commodity and will not think twice about leaving you to die in desolate environments,” Chief Patrol Agent Padilla said in a statement obtained by Breitbart Texas.

Brooks County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Urbano “Benny” Martinez has been leading the fight to reduce the deaths in his county for years.

“The abuse of these immigrants is hard to fathom,” Martinez told Breitbart Texas. “We have tried to make the most of our very limited resources to find them before something horrible happens to them.”

Martinez has been able to supplement his small staff of deputies with a group of volunteer law enforcement officers from the Rio Grande Valley and other areas of Texas. They volunteers give their time and professional service to the county through an organization known as the Border Brotherhood of Texas. The effort has enabled the county to significantly increase the law enforcement presence in the county at minimal cost to the county.

“We are very grateful to both those volunteer deputies and our regular staff who are dedicated to reducing the numbers of deaths in Brooks County,” Martinez said.

Martinez is currently in a runoff election for the nomination of his party to become sheriff of Brooks County. He has served in Brooks County for seven years after a career with the Texas Department of Public Safety.

Breitbart Texas reported in April about the abuses of these illegal immigrants at the hands of human smugglers and resulting from this country’s unsecured border.

Bob Price serves as associate editor and senior political news contributor for Breitbart Texas and is a member of the original Breitbart Texas team. Follow him on Twitter @BobPriceBBTX.