A Border Town’s ‘Combat Golf ’
EAGLE PASS, Texas — At the center of a legal battle over immigration enforcement in the United States lies a city park in Eagle Pass, Texas.
In January, Governor Greg Abbott directed Texas National Guard troops to take over Shelby Park to intercept migrants crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico. Now, at a place where residents once gathered for picnics, Humvees guard makeshift gates.
Still, one group of people can enter Shelby Park: golfers at the Eagle Pass municipal golf course, perched on a slope that descends to the river.
From the first tee, painted murals can be seen in Piedras Negras, on the Mexican side, near the riverbank. Along the American side of the river is a wall of shipping containers topped with concertina wire. Tall reeds once provided a hiding space for migrants, but were chopped down and replaced with the containers.
Golfers said they had grown used to the military vehicles and the hazards they brought.
“My friend hit a car once,” said Rolf Rothen, a Swiss immigrant who works as a chef at a casino in Eagle Pass.
By the containers, discarded wire sat in a bundle, with pieces of migrants’ clothing still caught in its sharp spikes. Mr. Rothen said he had knocked a ball into a patch of concertina wire on another occasion. “I left it there,” he said.
The third tee sits near the columns of a bridge that connects Eagle Pass to Mexico. The shady area under the bridge had been used by federal Border Patrol agents as a staging ground for detaining and processing migrants.
But that changed after Texas took over the park and banned the Border Patrol, complaining that federal agents were helping migrants cross by cutting through the state’s concertina wire. Texas and the federal government are currently fighting in court over that, and the much broader issue of who has ultimate authority over the border.
In a widely shared video posted in December on TikTok, a golfer hit a drive, and a large group of migrants under the bridge erupted in cheers.
The number of migrants crossing into the park dropped sharply in January. Those who have crossed were arrested by the state police, charged with misdemeanor trespassing and taken to jail.
On the fourth hole, getting to the green requires hitting over an arroyo, a drainage channel, that has been densely lined with concertina wire. As the wind whipped up, a tattered blue parka tumbled away from the concertina wire, its sleeves ripped in several places and its white stuffing spilling out on the grass.
Fernando Bonilla recalled his shot from the previous day. “The only reason I didn’t end up with a bad hook into the Rio Grande was because of the containers,” he said.
Another obstacle was the National Guard troops.
“Yesterday I was afraid of hitting the Texas National Guard, so I played it toward the bridge,” Mr. Bonilla said. “Then today, I was like, ‘I’m going for it.’ ” He added: “This is combat golf.”
The attention has been good for the golf course, said its manager, Carla Rodriguez.
“We’re seeing a lot of walkins,” she said. “Some play. And some just want to see what the border looks like.” She said the club also has many Mexican members who come from Piedras Negras to play.
City officials said they were using extra revenue to fix up patchy greens and some dusty areas along the fairways.
“The course is probably the best it’s been,” Ms. Rodriguez said.