FALFURRIAS, Texas – Every week, migrant rights activist Eduardo Canales fills up blue water drums that are spread throughout a vast valley of Texas ranchlands and brush.
They are there for migrants who venture into the rough terrain to avoid being caught and sent back to Mexico. The stretch of land 70 miles (113 kilometers) north of the U.S.-Mexico border is dangerous, and many have died.
But some migrants — usually single adults — are willing to take the risk, walking through the shrub-invaded grasslands on the sprawling ranches, seeking dirt paths to circumvent a U.S.
Border Patrol checkpoint on a major highway where agents verify people’s immigration status. “People die here. People get lost.