At least 200 migrants died after illegally crossing the border from Mexico in 2018. The number of deaths is quickly catching up with the record years of 2017 and 2016.

Since January 1, the bodies or remains of at least 200 illegal immigrants have been found along the entire southwest U.S.-Mexico Border. During the same period in 2017, a record-setting year, 214 were found and 208 the year before that, according to information provided by the Missing Migrant Project.

Of the 200 deceased migrants found so far this year, more than half (118) were recovered in Texas. The bodies of 34 migrants have been found in Brooks County, which is located 80 miles from the Mexican border.

Border Patrol agents and local sheriff’s office deputies often face the gruesome task of recovering the remains of those who were killed by the weather and lack of water.

“It is the false compassion of open borders that lead to the deaths of these illegal immigrants and other abuses we find out about,” Brooks County Sheriff Benny Martinez told Breitbart Texas in a recent telephone interview. “These people are abused all along the smuggling pipeline and it comes to a head here in my county where they are often left to die while being smuggled around the Border Patrol’s checkpoint.”

“These people are ill-prepared for this kind of forced march,” Martinez said about the migrants being moved through his county by ruthless human smugglers. “The soil here is very soft sand. It makes a mile feel like three or four. And, if you twist your ankle, get dehydrated or weak from the heat, or cannot keep up for any other reason, these callous human smugglers will simply leave you behind to die.”

Pima County Sheriff Mark Napier faces the same problems in his county as does Sheriff Martinez — over 1,000 miles to the west.

“Open borders policies are not compassionate public policy,” Pima County Sheriff Mark Napier told Breitbart Texas. “When we passively encourage illegal border crossing we are creating a human rights tragedy. These migrants are victimized repeatedly by bandits, human smuggling coyotes, and the harsh elements of this region.”

“Securing the border will prevent deaths and criminal victimization of border crossers,” Napier explained. “Securing the border is, in fact, compassionate public policy.”

“We need to talk about border security in terms of not only national security but compassionate public policy,” Napier concluded. “We should discuss ‘the wall’ as an analogous term referring to various aspects of border security that include manpower, physical barriers, technology, other resources.”

Nearly 70 deceased migrants were found in the desert regions of southern Arizona.

Of the deceased migrants whose remains were recovered this year, 121 were men, 10 were women, and the remainder could not be determined. At least one child has been found dead. Others could be among the 68 unidentified remains.

Nearly all of the deceased migrants came to the U.S. from Mexico, Central America, or other Latin American nations. One of the deceased came from China, one from South America, and three could not be determined.

During the past five calendar years, at least 1,661 have died along the U.S.-Mexico border. The record year was 2017 with 415 recorded deaths. This was followed by 401 in 2016, 339 in 2015, and 306 in 2014.