Small city lands in border security spotlight

EAGLE PASS, TEXAS >> As a ceremony with the blaring horns of mariachi musicians and rhythmic clickclack of horse hooves was about to begin, Mayor Rolando Salinas took a moment to reflect that his Texas border city is “more than just the immigration crisis that you see in the media.”

Cowboys and cowgirls from Eagle Pass and Piedras Negras, Mexico, met Friday on one of their two international bridges to begin a weeklong ride to the San Antonio Stock Show & Rodeo. The annual ritual is a point of local pride even as Eagle Pass draws wide attention for a showdown between Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the Biden administration over policing the border for illegal crossings.

“It shows you the connectivity between the United States and Mexico,” Salinas said as he observed final preparations for the annual “La Cabalgata Internacional La Grande.”

A few hours later, about 200 advocates were in a festive mood in the nearby town of Quemado ahead of a “Take Back Our Border” rally on Saturday. Connie Hinton, 56, said she showed up with her father from Austin, Texas, because “they need to get the people that are here illegally under control.”

The rally, which began with a trucker convoy in Virginia, was the latest sign of how an unprecedented migrant surge has shaken Eagle Pass, a sprawling town of warehouses and decaying houses that many big retailers have overlooked.

Mission: Border Hope, a group that helps migrants with travel plans after they are released by the Border Patrol with notices to appear in immigration court, has seen daily arrivals plummet to about 20 in recent days from highs of about 1,200, director Valeria Wheeler said.