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June 01, 2007 — Features

They Die in Brooks County
As border security tightens, South Texas becomes a graveyard for the weak and the unlucky
by Mary Jo McConahay
Images of the Dead
There is a human toll to illegal immigration. The corpses of men, women, and children who perished trying to enter the country are routinely found in Brooks County. They are photographed by law enforcement officials and private citizens. Police use the photos to investigate the deaths. Private citizens bring them to their elected officials and urge action. We include here a sample gallery of the dead, which we hope will illustrate the human cost of immigration policy. These images were not included in the Observer's print edition because they are graphic and disturbing.

Images of the Dead
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At the Side Door Café in Falfurrias, Texas, body counts enter conversations as naturally as the price of feed, or the cost of repairing torn fences. “I removed 11 bodies last year from my ranch, 12 the year before,â€