The border between the United States and Mexico is more than 3,000 kilometers long. For two-thirds of its length, it follows the windings of the Rio Grande through Texas, from New Mexico to the Gulf Coast. The small town of Eagle Pass lies roughly in the middle of the Texas section of the border. Several thousand migrants crossed the river here every day last December. At least since that time, this community of 30,000 has become the most important stage in the heated battle over American immigration policy. On one side are the hard-liners around Texas Gov. Greg Abbott, on the other the supporters of a «humane» immigration policy around President Joe Biden.
Eagle Pass already feels a bit like Mexico. The vast majority of inhabitants prefer to speak Spanish rather than English. Almost a quarter of its residents live below the poverty line. Even its Main Street – the central shopping street – is run down. The parking meters don’t work, and the Aztec cinema closed its doors many years ago. The Gran Mercado, like most local stores, mainly sells cheap goods, ranging from underwear to children’s bicycles. Only the colorful range of artificial flowers in the shop windows is lush.
«Like when someone takes your home away from you»
Where the shopping street slopes down to the Rio Grande, the view of Shelby Park along the border river opens up. On the other side of the grassy expanse with its football and baseball fields and adjacent golf course, two bridges lead to the neighboring Mexican town of Piedras Negras. The inhabitants of Eagle Pass used to come here to relax at ballgames, picnics or folk festivals. Local activist Jessie Fuentes used to organize an annual kayak race on the Rio Grande, beginning from the boat ramp in the park. But when more and more migrants began to cross the river here, Gov. Abbott resorted to extremes in January, closing the park to the public and even to federal Border Patrol forces. Now, on this morning in April, Fuentes has to wait for me with his pickup truck and a canoe on top in front of a locked gate. Behind him, members of the Texas National Guard patrol the grounds with assault rifles slung around their necks.
This is painful for Fuentes. For him, the Rio Grande is not just any river. «It feels like someone is taking your home away from you,» he says. Even as a child, he often went fishing with his father. Nine years ago, the former high school teacher retired and founded a company offering canoe and kayak tours. «I had to get back to the river,» says the 63-year-old, who wears an Indiana Jones-style hat on his head and a walrus mustache on his face.
Now, Fuentes is only allowed to accompany journalists down the river – provided authorities in Austin, the state capital of Texas, grant permission. «It’s never clear until the last minute whether it will come together,» Fuentes says. But we are lucky. When the National Guard’s media officer arrives, the soldiers open the gate. We are allowed to drive to the boat ramp and put the canoe in the water. We are not allowed to ask any questions about the Texan troops’ mission.
Only from the water does it become clear how Abbott’s border fortifications have changed the Rio Grande. Last summer, Texas blocked the riverbank at Shelby Park with a wall of rusty shipping containers. This morning, they are being manned by vigilant members of the National Guard. The largely cleared embankment below is partially secured right down to the water with razor wire. «But even that couldn’t stop the migrants in December,» says Fuentes.
The Rio Grande is only around 20 meters wide here. On the Mexican side is Piedras Negras’ city park. There, a visitor can stroll unhindered past children’s playgrounds to the riverbank. When the water level is low, as it is now in April, an adult can easily wade across the Rio Grande to the American shore. It is clearly visible how migrants have managed to overcome the life-threatening barriers, despite all the hurdles placed in their way. Pieces of clothing hang everywhere in the wires. In some places further downstream, multiple layers of T-shirts, sweaters, blankets and scarves cover the sharp blades. Large groups in particular, who can bring many pieces of fabric and clothing across the river, are able to struggle over the obstacles this way.
Razor wire instead of reeds
In December, however, the U.S. Border Patrol was still waiting for the migrants in Shelby Park. The officers recorded their personal details and accepted their requests to apply for asylum. This is exactly what the majority of migrants want. This is because people seeking asylum who can credibly demonstrate a fear of persecution in their home country have the prospect of beginning a yearlong procedure, during which they can remain in the United States.
In Shelby Park, members of the U.S. Border Patrol adhered to the law : Anyone who is on American soil has the right to ask for asylum. But this entry point proved to be a thorn in Texas’ side, says Fuentes. The complete takeover of the site by the National Guard was intended to put an end to such activity. He says the state made it clear to the federal authorities: «You will no longer take care of the migrants. We will push them back across the river.»
He himself once witnessed members of the Texas National Guard send a mother with a screaming child back across the river, he notes. An internal email that leaked last summer confirmed allegations of this kind. In the email, a Texas border guard informed his superior that they had been ordered to force children back across the river, and told not to give migrants water. Because the barriers have forced people to cross the river at deeper points, the risk of drowning has also increased, Fuentes notes.
We are accompanied on the canoe trip by activist Amerika Garcia, whose father was a member of the Eagle Pass Chamber of Commerce for many years. The 48-year-old is concerned about the environment as well as about the welfare of migrants. Garcia points to the shipping containers on the shore. Shelby Park is actually a flood plain, she says. By law, nothing permanent may be built in this zone. «The containers could float away in a flood and damage the bridges,» she notes.
The wall of shipping containers ends to the south of the park. For several kilometers, the American embankment resembles a battlefield, with fences and concertina wire. While on the Mexican side, dense reeds grow, fishermen cast their rods and horses drink from the river, the vegetation on the American side has been stripped bare. Black metal stakes have been driven into the bare earth, with rolls of sharp wire stretched out between them. No migrant can find cover here. The disadvantage, however, is that «the river is eroding the banks more strongly,» Garcia says.
Meanwhile, behind the fences along the Rio Grande, heavy machinery has been used to construct dirt roads for the patrols. Here and there they have piled up artificial mounds of earth. Humvees are now parked on top, with soldiers overlooking the border. A little further downstream, Texas has installed a chain of large buoys about 300 meters long in the middle of the water at a point where many migrants pass. Metal discs like saw blades are attached between them. However, driftwood has become entangled in the buoys, and is lifting the orange floats out of the water for long distances. «They are creating an island,» says Garcia. This violates treaties between the United States and Mexico, she notes. «Nothing is allowed to be done that could change the direction of the flow,» she says.
Is Mexico the better wall?
Several federal agencies and in some cases centuries-old treaties serve to protect the river, Fuentes confirms. «You can’t even pull up a plant without a permit,» he says. He believes that the Texas measures are not only harmful to the environment, but also ineffective and unnecessary in the fight against migration, despite the fact that the number of illegal border crossings has recently fallen sharply. In December, about 71,000 people crossed the river in the Del Rio section, which includes Eagle Pass. In each of the months just past, the figure declined to fewer than 20,000. In addition, in recent months, fewer migrants crossed the border in Texas than in the other border states – New Mexico, Arizona and California. This indicates a shift in migration flows.
On our three-hour canoe trip, we see only three small groups of migrants looking for a way through the razor wire on the American shore, in broad daylight. But Abbot is not responsible for the current decline in illegal border crossings, says Fuentes. The main reason for this is the increased assistance being provided by the Mexican authorities, which has made it difficult for migrants to reach the border, he argues. «Mexico is the wall,» he says.
Mexico has presumably stepped up its activity thanks to increased pressure from Washington. U.S. President Biden also realized in December that the situation at the border had become untenable. In Eagle Pass, the U.S. Border Patrol even had to temporarily close the bridges for rail and road traffic, or in some cases sharply restrict traffic. The authorities were forced to withdraw the border officials normally posted at these crossings to deal with the many migrants who were crossing the river. This in turn tore a large hole in the budget of the border town, which depends on customs revenue for over 50% of its income.
Shortly before Christmas, President Biden called his Mexican counterpart Andrés Manuel López Obrador. Worried by the massive wave of migration, he told Mexico’s president that they had to look for a solution together. A few days later, Biden sent Secretary of State Antony Blinken to Mexico City.
Republican mutiny against Washington
In January, the U.S. Border Guard encountered around 40% fewer undocumented migrants along the entire southern border than in December. In the Eagle Pass sector, however, the figure was 76% lower. As coldhearted, environmentally damaging and costly as the Texan methods may be, they may not be entirely without a deterrent effect. At a press conference in Shelby Park in February, Gov. Abbott emphasized that his actions were constitutional. A clause in the first article of the U.S. Constitution allows individual states to defend themselves against imminent threats and invasions without Washington’s consent, he contended. And the record level of migration under President Biden is a dangerous invasion, he added. «Millions of people from all over the world are coming into our country uncontrolled,» he said.
On this basis, Abbott declared a state of emergency in May 2021, giving himself the power to send up to 10,000 Texas National Guard members to the border on a temporary basis. The state has also built its own border walls and fences along various sections. In order to confront the Democrats with the consequences of the high level of immigration, Texas has bussed more than 100,000 migrants to left-leaning cities such as New York and Chicago. This so-called Operation Lone Star has cost Texas taxpayers around $10 billion to date.
The 66-year-old Abbott, who has been in a wheelchair since a jogging accident at a young age, is not alone in this mutiny against Washington’s immigration policy. At the press conference in Shelby Park in February, Abbott was surrounded by 12 other governors from Republican states. In solidarity, many of them have sent members of their own National Guard forces to the border in Texas. Just two weeks after the news conference, Donald Trump also visited Shelby Park to congratulate Abbott for his «great work.» Meanwhile, Biden has appeared reluctant to escalate the conflict further. Theoretically, the president could take the Texas National Guard under his own control. But to do so, he would have to invoke the Insurrection Act, effectively accusing Texas of rebellion.
For his part, the activist Fuentes sees the world with completely different eyes than Governor Abbott. Migration is not a problem for him. His own grandfather once immigrated from Mexico, he says. «Who milks the cows in America? Who picks the fruit? Who builds the houses? It’s not white people, and not Black people. It’s the brown people,» says the father of five. With a steady hand, he steers the canoe to a small landing between tall reeds. Around 15 kilometers downstream, this is the first opportunity we have seen to go ashore.
«With everything Abbott is doing, he wants to provoke conflict,» Fuentes concludes. He notes that there was a possible alternative to improve the situation at the border, in the form of the compromise negotiated in the Senate between Republicans and Democrats to tighten up and speed up asylum procedures. But because Trump was against it, the conservatives scuttled this bill last February. «They want chaos at the border in order win the elections in the fall,» Fuentes says.
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