Frontera Federation

Después de que una zona de la fronteriza ciudad de Eagle Pass fue ocupada militarmente durante más de un año para frenar el cruce de inmigrantes, un popular parque local finalmente fue reabierto al público. Residentes indignados que desde el principio rechazaron la ocupación ahora demandan que el gobernador republicano de Greg Abbott pague los daños causados no sólo al parque, sino a la economía local, calculados en varios millones de dólares.

The main street in Amerika Garcia Grewal’s town looks like a war zone. She lives in Eagle Pass, Texas, a city nestled on the Rio Grande River and a natural border with Mexico. Last year, thousands of Texas National Guard troops arrived in town, bringing drones, guns, Humvees and concertina wire, including the coils now lining the heavily patrolled Main Street. A string of massive shipping containers now walls off that same street, and elsewhere in the city, work is underway on an 80-acre military base. This buildup is part of the Texas government’s Operation Lone Star, an $11 billion effort to carry out mass arrests — often for criminal trespassing — and bus immigrants to Democrat-led cities, all in the name of border security.

A resident named Amerika expressed concerns, saying, "We still do not have full control of the park as a community. All of the things that were scattered around the park are now concentrated just within the fence." The city of Eagle Pass reported a $2 million loss due to the state's occupation of the park, raising questions about potential reimbursement. Additionally, there are concerns about whether the state might close the park gates again in the future. The situation remains under development, and further updates are expected as more information becomes available.

The city park in Eagle Pass that became the center of the illegal immigration debate and was taken over by Texas authorities more than a year ago has re-opened to the public.

For the first time in over a year, the gates to Shelby Park are open. Gone are the concrete barriers, guards, and armored vehicles that have lined the entrance since January 2024, when the State of Texas took control of the two-mile stretch of borderland. [Frontera Federation VP Karen Gonzalez in still, Co-Director Amerika Garcia Grewal in interview]

The Border Vigil, a group of Eagle Pass residents that hosts vigils for people who have died attempting to cross the border, posted a Facebook Live video on Sunday of one of their members driving around and through Shelby Park. The park was mostly empty, but the barricade of shipping containers along the riverbank topped with concertina wire remained, the video showed.

“The state turned our park into a war zone, then retreated into their air-conditioned tents on the floodplain and pretended everything was normal,” said Amerika Garcia Grewal, co-director of the Frontera Federation.

Amerika Garcia Grewal, an Eagle Pass resident who runs a border vigil to honor those who have died trying to cross the Rio Grande, posted a video on Facebook on Sunday afternoon showing that soldiers were no longer standing at a gate to Shelby Park’s entrance to screen individuals who wanted to enter. The state seizing control of Shelby Park in January 2024 made international headlines and surprised city officials. Texas officials fenced off the park from the public.

La administración de Trump está exportando su enfoque draconiano de aplicación de la ley fronteriza a México mediante una agresiva presión política y drásticos recortes en la financiación de las ONG.

The Trump administration is exporting its draconian approach to border enforcement to Mexico through aggressive political pressure and drastic reductions in NGO funding.

It was the first funeral service for a migrant by Border Vigil, a human rights organization on the U.S.-Mexico border, one of the world’s deadliest.

Fue el primer entierro de un inmigrante organizado por Border Vigil, una organización de derechos humanos que trabaja en la frontera entre Estados Unidos y México, una de las más letales del mundo.

At least 17 Texas National Guardsmen have died during the border mission, a number of them by suicide.

From Colombia to Venezuela and beyond, organized crime groups have gained notoriety as the immigrant economy brings profit and a steady business model.

Con el aumento de personas forzadas a abandonar sus hogares en Latinoamérica y el Caribe en 2024, el tráfico de migrantes pasó de ser una economía criminal secundaria a convertirse en una actividad central para algunos de los grupos criminales más poderosos de la región.

Texas Republican Gov. Greg Abbott launched Operation Lone Star in March 2021. It has been at the heart of his effort to deter illegal immigration, and it has received support from President-elect Donald Trump and other conservative leaders. However, since the mission began, at least 17 Texas National Guardsmen have died from various causes.

After 30,000 appointments to apply for asylum were cancelled, the fragile calm at the US-Mexico border is at risk.