San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Snapshot of Operation Lone Star in Del Rio murky
DEL RIO — Outside Del Rio, Vega Verde Road runs along the Rio Grande for about 5 miles.
The border’s complex issues collide on this rugged strip of land, where a mishmash of homes, trailers, empty lots and abandoned properties line the riverfront
A new chain-link fence topped with razor wire essentially cuts off the neighborhood from the rest of the country.
The shiny fence is a tangible example of Operation Lone Star, Gov. Greg Abbott’s controversial border security mission that, according to the state’s military department, has mobilized roughly 10,000 Guard members to support the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Still under construction, the barrier that’s part of the socalled “Abbott Wall” already has patches from where people have cut through to enter the United States.
The fence ends at Victor and Blanca Coronado’s ranchita, a mobile home the couple uses as a weekend getaway and a patch of land where their goats, donkeys and a horse graze.
According to Blanca, the 1998 Del Rio flood took out power and water to many of the homes along Vega Verde road, so they truck in water and depend on generators and solar for power.
Posts, bags of concrete and rolls of fencing lie on the property’s far side awaiting installation. Victor said the Guard would maintain the fence on his land for six months, but then it will be his responsibility.
The river and trees glowed at sunset Wednesday as the couple talked about life on the slice of land caught in the middle of flawed policy, politics and reality.
An outsider might think the big fence and Humvees posted along Vega Verde road disturb the wild peace of the area, but the Coronados are thankful for the Guard’s presence, especially since crossings have spiked over the last few years.
They told of migrants passing through and Border Patrol agents swarming about. They also mentioned how they hear gunshots from across the river.
Sometimes the Coronados see the travelers, but more often, they only hear hushed voices, kids crying or cellphones. Asylum-seekers have asked them for rides to the Border Patrol.
Before the Guard’s arrival, Victor said, the area, overgrown with brush, was “really spooky” with many people passing through whom they couldn’t always see.
“We feel more relaxed because (the Guard) is here,” Blanca said. “With them we feel very protected.”
While the Coronados feel safer, Abbott and other state officials have failed to answer questions about civil rights of detained immigrants, transparency for the operation, environmental impacts or the overall mood of the mobilized Guard members and state troopers.
A couple miles from the Coronado’s house, two Guardsmen from San Antonio manned a Humvee parked near the fence.
Like most of the Guard outposts along the border, the single Humvee faced South as its occupants watched and waited.
Two stray dogs milled about. One looked pregnant. The soldiers said that when it’s cold, the dogs curl up under the Humvee.
The soldiers, who’ve been on the mission since November, asked not to be identified as they spoke about their experiences.
Neither volunteered for the year-long deployment, and one stepped away from his banking job for the activation.
They’re working eight-hour days. At one point they were working 12-hour days with little down time. Now, they more frequently get several days off in a row.
They’ve seen the news accounts of the long list of problems that have battered the mission — suicides, pay issues, bad morale, poor living conditions, a lack of basic equipment, boredom and a high price tag for taxpayers.
They acknowledged the hardship as soldiers do — “it could always be worse.”
While they said they feel conditions have improved since they first arrived, I wondered what they weren’t telling me.
Their mission is to “observe and report.” When they see people crossing the river, they radio their supervisor and DPS or Border Patrol.
Usually the migrants come to the soldiers seeking asylum. Other times they ignore the soldiers and continue on their way. Without law enforcement authority, there’s little the troops can do. Sometimes two or three young Guardsmen are responsible for groups of 30 or more migrants while awaiting backup.
For the soldiers on watch at places like Vega Verde, the conflicting narratives, partisanship and border rhetoric must sound like dissonance as they stare across the water.
They’re following their orders in an ill-conceived mission that’s part of a vast and complicated issue. The more you look the murkier it gets.
Guardsmen watching and waiting. A fence with holes. Border residents who sometimes feel more secure. State, federal and local agencies with different agendas and goals. Immigrants seeking a better life. All are products of our difficult politics and an immigration system in desperate need of reform.