As of June and with three months before the fiscal year ends, the number of attempts made by people trying to enter the country illegally this fiscal year surpassed last year’s total, according to the latest data from the U.S. Customs and Border Protection. In step with the national trend, the number of encounters increased in the Rio Grande Valley, including rescues.

The number of people who were stopped entering the country was less in June than it was in May, but the annual total represents a significantly higher amount than the year before.

So far, nearly 11,500 more people have been stopped in this fiscal year than all of 2021.

In the Valley, the numbers have kept mostly steady, though with an upward trend.

Encounters do not represent the total number of people trying to cross, but the number of times people have tried to cross, including those who try it more than once in the year. And in 2022, the most encountered group were adults from Mexico traveling alone, as opposed with family.

It’s been enough to place strain on those trying to enforce federal law or mitigate its effects.

“We have had a high number of smuggling cases in the last quarter. It was real high, but it’s because we’re staying on top of it, because the people keep coming,” Brooks County Sheriff Urbino “Benny” Martinez said.

Car chases and human smuggling are a common occurrence in Brooks County, but Martinez says the smuggling has kept them busier this year.

Down south in Hidalgo County, local authorities are taking calls for help frequently. “Right now we’re doing rescues like you wouldn’t believe,” Hidalgo County Sheriff J.E. “Eddie” Guerra said.

Border Patrol agents in the Valley work in partnership to help on rescue calls. Acting Chief Patrol Agent Joel Martinez said, “RGV agents have successfully rescued over 1,000 migrants this fiscal year. Amazing work by the agents on the frontline!” in a social media post on Thursday.

During the hot summer months exacerbated by drought, law enforcement has had to contend with weather hazards, aside from the expected challenges.

A Border Patrol vehicle on patrol caught fire at a Brooks County area ranch on July 9. Nearly 6,000 acres were subsequently damaged after high winds worked against containment efforts for four days.

“A part under the vehicle, the catalytic converter, gets very heated, and as you’re driving over the dry grass, the buffel grass seeds accumulate and start a fire,” Guerra explained.

The grass fire is not the first of its kind, though its severity made it one of the worst. It’s a danger that can work against partnerships to patrol the area.

“There’s some ranches that will not let the Border Patrol on their property, because they’ve caught their ranches on fire,” Guerra said. “They won’t let them on unless one of my deputies is with them. They know they can’t go off the road. They have to stay on what’s called the two-track where the grass is mowed and they can’t come off of that.”

Sheriffs use ATVs and helicopters to perform rescues, but they welcome other law enforcement resources like Border Patrol’s Horse Patrol Unit.

“They know the terrain, because there are different areas, terrains that only horses could get into. They need the horses. It’s just another tool,” Martinez said. “A four-wheel drive vehicle can’t go up in the mountain or come down from a mountain. A horse can. They’re easier to work with.”

While Hidalgo County’s sheriff and his deputies mostly respond to rescues, Martinez and his deputies are frequently making trips into the brush searching for those who could not be rescued.

So far in this calendar year, they’ve recovered 63 bodies. Martinez expects — though he hopes he’s wrong — that number might go up to 100 deaths in Brooks County by the end of December.