Hundreds rally in Texas as border row heats up

QUEMADO, Texas — In trucks, vans and recreational vehicles, hundreds of people converged on Saturday in southern Texas to vent ire on illegal immigration and show support for former president Donald Trump at a rally that blended border politics with religious rhetoric.

Scrawled on the side of one of the vehicles reaching Quemado — population 162 — were the words “Join the God Fight”.

The convoy gathered in the tiny town along the Rio Grande river, which forms the natural border between the United States and Mexico, as debate swirls again about how to address record-high migrant crossings.

At the rally, vendors sold shirts, flags and hats promoting Trump, a Republican, while conservative speakers touted conservative Christian values and criticized the border policies of Democratic President Joe Biden.

“Folks, this is serious stuff, this is evil stuff,” Representative Keith Self said of Biden’s policies. “We are in a spiritual battle for the survival of our republic.”

Immigration has become a potent political issue in the run-up to Nov 5 elections that will likely pit Biden against Trump, reprising the 2020 contest, as the former on Saturday won the South Carolina Democratic primary, the first official primary of the party, with returns showing him swamping two other candidates, according to research company Edison Research in New Jersey.

Biden on Saturday afternoon discussed border challenges with Mexico’s President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador and committed to continuing “joint efforts to counter transnational criminal organizations involved in the illicit trafficking of drugs, guns, and people”, the White House said.

The “Take Our Border Back” protest began with a vehicle convoy from Virginia that rolled into Quemado on Friday night.

Eagle Pass, about 30 kilometers from Quemado, has become the epicenter of a prickly conflict between Texas Governor Greg Abbott, a Republican, and the Biden administration.

Anna Gabriela Derbez, a 56-year-old Eagle Pass resident at Saturday’s rally, said immigration was one of several issues that were part of “a fight of good versus evil”.

“We’re for immigration,” said Derbez, whose grandparents came to the US from Mexico.

Abbott and 14 other Republican governors planned to hold a news conference in the city on Sunday to defend the approach.

“That river today is a disaster zone,” Jessie Fuentes, who owns a kayak rental business near Rio Grande, said. “It is becoming a military base.”