Officials in one South Texas county report finding the remains of two migrants in the ranchlands surrounding a Border Patrol checkpoint. The deaths are the first two reported in this county for 2018.

Brooks County Sheriff Benny Martinez told Breitbart Texas that his deputies were called out to recover the skeletal remains of two migrants. He believes they died after being led around the Falfurrias Border Patrol checkpoint.

“We are not sure how long these bodies have been out there,” Sheriff Martinez expressed. “But so far, we have not yet found any deaths related to the freezing weather conditions we experienced last week.”

During a similar cold snap in December, officials in Brooks County recovered the remains of nine migrants who died from exposure and hypothermia. The trail of death began near Falfurrias on Thursday, December 7, Breitbart Texas reported. Agents were called to the scene to recover two corpses found by ranchers. Over the next several days, the remains of six more migrants would be recovered from the ranches that surround this checkpoint.

“Normally, we see our high fatality rates in the summer months,” Martinez told Breitbart Texas in December. “This unusually cold month has proven to be as deadly as the summer heat. We had nine deaths in seven days.”

Martinez’ year ended with the recovery 52 illegal aliens over the course of the year.

“We had 52 people die in our county last year while trying to bypass the Falfurrias Checkpoint,” the sheriff told Breitbart Texas during a phone interview on January 3. “They die because these callous human smugglers have no regard for human life. These people are just cargo to them.”

The sheriff worked closely with Border Patrol leaders and the Texas Department of Public Safety to try and prevent a repeat of the deaths during last week’s cold snap.

“The U.S. Border Patrol and Texas Department of Public Safety have both increased their presence in the county,” he explained. The sheriff said they are attempting to create enough pressure to stop the human smugglers from dropping off the migrants during these dangerous cold weather periods.

“If we can slow them down on these kinds of days, we can save lives,” Martinez said. “So far, it looks like it worked. But, we don’t really know until someone calls and reports another body.”

Nationally, nearly 300 illegal aliens died during Fiscal Year 2017. Brooks County accounted for about 10 to 15 percent of the reported deaths.