Texas migrant advocate and civil rights activist Eduardo “Eddie” Canales has died.

A Texas Tribune analysis of state data found that at least 279 people in Texas were killed by heat last year, and a large portion of those deaths were likely migrants who died after crossing the border.

It’s an operation that Brooks County sheriffs deputies say knows no time and has no bounds. Smuggling of migrants can happen in backroads or in high traffic areas. Reporter Alicia Barrera and photojournalist Sal Salazar take you to areas where migrants are often loaded up to be smuggled across the nation.

Operation Lone Star has helped fund the miles of concertina wire and militarization along the U.S. border. But how are funds invested in communities more than 80 miles north of the border? Reporter Alicia Barrera and photojournalist Sal Salazar visit Brooks County for a closer look.

Brooks County As of July 5 in Brooks County there have been 10 positive cases of COVID-19 and the county does not want to take any chances to increase that number. The warning states that if you have a positive test and dont isolate yourself except to get medical care, it can lead to your arrest. Of the 10 positive cases so far in Brooks County, four people have recovered. Its not the only place in Texas threatening legal action against COVID-19 patients who fail to quarantine. Officials in Laredo issued a warning this week that COVID-19 patients who leave their homes could face a citation.

The area where we’re walking in is one of the most heavily used trails by migrants in Brooks County #KSATBorderJourney #KSATnews pic.twitter.com/nQlvUeu1y3 — Adrian Garcia (@adrianrolgarcia) July 18, 2018Good morning from Brooks County. KSAT's Steve Spriester, Luis Cienfuegos, Mario Orellana, Sal Salazar and Adrian Garcia will walk the same path that the migrants take in Brooks County. Producer Mario & I will be walking the same path the migrants use, starting at 6:30 a.m. in BROOKS COUNTY. Steve Spriester met up with a resident and a new business owner who shared their thoughts on the small town. #KSATBorderJourney pic.twitter.com/uaQHd6JLUj — Steve Spriester (@stevespriester) July 17, 2018The #KSATBorderJourney makes it 2nd stop in Carrizo Springs.

NEAR SAN MARCOS, Texas – What are believed to be the last of the unidentified remains exhumed from Sacred Heart Cemetery in Falfurrias are now at the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State University, their official repository since last year. AdBaker’s students were the first to exhume the unidentified remains that were then taken to Texas State for processing. He said that’s hard to do when family members are in the U.S. illegally or in another country. Instead, Gocha said the center reaches out to nongovernmental groups, such as the South Texas Human Rights Center in Falfurrias, and consulates to help contact family members. Spradley said Thursday that the Forensic Anthropology Center had only received partial funding from a private foundation to continue its work.

The initial outrage over erroneous reports of mass graves has turned into an uproar over improper burials of immigrants at a South Texas cemetery. AUSTIN, Texas – The outrage over inaccurate reports of mass graves in a Falfurrias cemetery has turned into an uproar over improper burials of immigrant remains. 20, arranged a briefing Tuesday at the State Capitol. Their professor, Dr. Lori Baker, a forensic anthropologist, said, "We've seen these unusual burials throughout the cemetery." But Baker said she's seen similar burials in other cemeteries due to lack of space.

FALFURRIAS, Texas – In response to published reports of mass graves at a Falfurrias cemetery, Brooks County Judge Raul Ramirez said a local funeral home had been paid to transport and “dispose” of immigrant remains. Ramirez said at a cost of $450 per body in 2005 to $740 now, he understood they would be buried in pauper's graves. "Plastic bags are not pauper's graves," Ramirez said. Dr. Lori Baker, a Baylor University forensic anthropologist, also said they were not in mass graves. AdShe said it was nothing like the mass graves she encountered years ago working in Peru.

Founded by a forensic anthropologist at Baylor University, Reuniting Families has reached a milestone-- its first identification of human remains found in Brooks County, an area notorious for immigrant deaths. She said the remains identified were of a woman who was buried as an "unknown" more than 1,400 miles from her family in Honduras. She said after the woman's remains were unearthed by University of Indianapolis students, they were taken to the Forensic Anthropology Center at Texas State University for analysis. Baker said the DNA match was made possible by an Argentinian forensic team in Honduras that collected a sample from the woman's family. Ad"You can see the extent of the agencies and how they all had to work together," Baker said.

FALFURRIAS, Texas – At least 71 undocumented immigrants crowded into the back of a U-Haul truck survived a wild ride Wednesday through a Brooks County ranch, thanks to a law enforcement officer’s instincts. Brooks County deputy Mo Saavedra said when the smuggler saw his sheriff's vehicle, he tore through a fence line along FM 285 about 15 miles west of Falfurrias. "When the U-Haul was going through the field, they lifted up the back hatch and people started jumping out," Saavedra said. AdSaavedra said when they saw him, the U-Haul turned around. They stopped traffic and they almost got hit by traffic," Saavedra said.

SAN MARCOS, Texas – The “processing” of immigrant bodies would be too gruesome for the untrained, but for forensic science students it is a necessary task that they volunteered to do on behalf of loved ones. "Their families are besides themselves trying to find out what happened to them," said Dr. Lori Baker, the forensic anthropologist at Baylor University. She is leading the volunteer effort by other experts and students at Baylor, Texas State University and the University of Indianapolis. You just don't hear about these things," said Sabrina Lacruz, who just graduated from Baylor with a degree in forensic science. "It is a silent mass disaster," said Dr. Kate Spradley, the forensic anthropologist at Texas State overseeing their work at the Freeman Ranch near San Marcos.

Hernandez is the 32nd immigrant to die in Brooks County this year. Before making those latest notifications, Martinez said a Congressional aide had just informed him that Brooks County should not count on any "border surge" funds approved last week in the Senate's version of immigration reform. AdNearly $40 billion have been proposed to double the number of Border Patrol agents, create a fleet of unmanned aerial vehicles, and additional border fencing. He said Brooks County is 70 miles from the border, yet it's seeing a daily surge of smuggling activity being funneled around the busiest of three Border Patrol checkpoints in the Rio Grande Valley sector. "We need to become a border county where the funds are directly forwarded to the county," Martinez said.

FALFURRIAS – Teams of forensic students at Baylor University arrived in Brooks County on Saturday to begin the somber task of exhuming bodies of unidentified immigrants buried in the Falfurrias Cemetery. Related: Students on mission to ID human remains near borderAdTheir mission in Falfurrias will involve exhuming more than 50 grave sites through May 28. Brooks County has experienced a record number of deaths last year, with 129 bodies recovered on area ranches. AdShe said their work will be at no cost to Brooks County, and their expenses will be out of their pocket. However, Baker said in return, the Baylor students will get valuable real-life experience as they prepare for careers using their forensic skills.

Brooks County dispatchers often receive calls from illegal immigrants who are lost in brush and desperately seeking help. BROOKS COUNTY, Texas – Illegal immigrants overcome by the South Texas heat often call Brooks County 911, triggering an all-out search by sheriff’s deputies and U.S. Border Patrol. We’re not going to let them die out here,” said Rey Rodriguez, Brooks County sheriff. “Yes, yes,” he said. “Vargas, Vargas,” Angel kept repeating a name scrawled on a fence post.

FALFURRIAS, Texas – Between bailouts during pursuits and searching the rugged brush country for dead or dying illegal immigrants, Brooks County Sheriff Rey Rodriguez said his department is “having a rough time.”Rodriguez said it's not just his small department, but also state and federal law enforcement agencies in Brooks County -- a deep South Texas county of about 7,000 people. Rodriguez said smugglers coming up from the border often travel the back roads to bypass the U.S. Border Patrol checkpoints, located on U.S. Highway 281, south of Falfurrias. Yet because Brooks is not considered a border county, the sheriff said state and federal funding is harder to come by for his overworked and understaffed department. Rodriguez said the smugglers escaped, leaving half a dozen illegal immigrants to be rescued and their cargo up in the smoke. For that reason, Daniel Davila, Brooks County's lone investigator, said the small department is not backing down.