DALLAS — Only days ago, residents of Eagle Pass sent a letter to Gov. Greg Abbott, accusing his rhetoric of putting the community in danger.
Members of armed, far-right militias are traveling to Eagle Pass after hearing the governor’s words.
And on one recent weekend, police made arrests and even closed off access to one area of the city after reports of gunfire and growing concerns about violence.
“There was some fringe elements down here with that convoy that were pretty serious. And they were, basically, headed off at the pass before they were able to do any harm,” local resident Jessie Fuentes told us on Y’all-itics. “It’s kind of bad going around your community when you have a target on your back because of the governor’s rhetoric and his campaign.”
In that letter to the governor, the residents write: “It is an affront to us as U.S. taxpayers and as citizens of this great state, that you have seized our public park – which is owned by everyone – to support an extreme partisan political agenda that endangers our families.”
They also write: “Yes our communities are being invaded, but it is not migrants who pose the threat.”
The state of Texas is using Shelby Park as its staging ground for its border operation.
But the federal government accused the state of blocking border patrol agents from accessing the park. And the Supreme Court recently backed the Biden Administration in that fight and allowed federal agents to cut the razor wire.
Jessie Fuentes, a lifelong resident of Eagle Pass and owner of Epi’s Canoe and Kayak Team, says the community has invited Gov. Abbott to meet with them so he can hear their fears and concerns firsthand.
But Fuentes says the governor has refused.
Fuentes has already been in this fight for months.
He sued the governor last summer over the buoys that were installed in the Rio Grande river as an effort to deter migrant crossings. That lawsuit continues to move forward.
Fuentes compares the situation to the aviation industry. He says while there are occasional hiccups, sometimes large ones, for the most part, it’s a dependable operation controlled by the federal government.
He says think about the border the same way.
“Whatever the situation be, whether it be three people, 30 people, or 300 or 3,000 people, it gets taken care of, just like anything else, and life goes on,” Fuentes said. “You know, there’s too much emphasis placed on one particular day or another, and this month or that month, or that month or this day, and all of a sudden, it’s blown out of proportion.”
Listen to the full episode of Y’all-itics to learn about other ways Eagle Pass residents are organizing to push back against the Governor. And find out why Jessie tells us those buoys are turning into a new island in the middle of the Rio Grande river. Cheers!