QUEMADO, Texas (KCBD) – Residents in towns on the Texas-Mexico border are seeing the state of that dividing line firsthand.
“This is not the world it used to be,” residents in Quemado, a tiny town on the border, said about the migrant crisis.
One resident expressed concerns about the changes in recent years.
“From Eagle Pass to this way there is nothing,” the resident said. “Here we are wide open. We are the Wild Wild West.”
Quemado is 20 miles north of Eagle Pass and about a quarter-mile away from Mexico.
The town was in the spotlight a few months ago when thousands gathered for a peaceful protest, calling on lawmakers to stop the fighting along the border that is causing devastation to their community.
“How do I put this? If you could somehow tell the powers that be that we don’t like to live like this,” the resident said. “We hate it and we want our country back. We want the freedom to go see our friends in Mexico and them to come see us. We feel like slaves in this mess, too, because our world has been changed that much.”
Homeowners in Quemado stated they see hundreds of migrants crossing through the Rio Grande and into their city illegally.
“We are living on the front lines of a battle,” the resident said.
That resident and another, who lives just a few streets over, said migrants knock on their doors asking for food and water – or let themselves in when no one is home.
“I went to the post office and it’s three blocks from here. That blinking light, that’s where the post office is,” another resident said. “I left my door closed but not locked. I came back and there was an illegal girl in my room and kitchen. She used my landline to call everywhere. My bill was $350. She used the bathroom and I caught her with the refrigerator doors open.”
Encounters like these, the residents said, are frequent and terrifying. However, the residents said their faith keeps them in Quemado.
“There are times when people force you and make you want to run,” the first resident said. “But God says stay. To be still and know that I am God. I’ve got this under control and there ain’t nothing more powerful than that.”
The two homeowners wanted to remain anonymous for their safety.
Copyright 2024 KCBD. All rights reserved.