Eagle Pass - Operation Lone Star
On August 1, 2023, I went to Eagle Pass to see the bouys Governor Abbott had installed in the Rio Grande river for myself.
Just two days later, I was heartbroken to learn that two people died at the buoy barrier. This is a terrible thing to happen. Leaving the buoys in place will show that Governor Abbott will go to any ends, including loss of life, to keep desperate people from entering the US in Texas.
Operation Lone Star is failing us. But on Aug. 1, one border community celebrated a victory in pushing back against the demands of Governor Abbott.
When I visited Eagle Pass I saw the beauty which lies in its people. I met kind, intelligent and concerned people on my visit to this small border town. They are concerned about the negative impacts of Operation Lone Star (OLS), and they are pushing back against Governor Abbott who has single-handedly directed the change to their beautiful town.
Dozens of people raised their voices against the economic disruption, the environmental destruction, and the unthinkable inhumanity of OLS. The victory came when their city council voted unanimously to rescind a letter from the Mayor saying Shelby Park, a public park, was private property allowing DPS troopers to arrest migrants for trespassing and jailing them for up to a year. Many cases may be overturned as a result.
I went to see firsthand the impacts of OLS. First, the economic disruption of Jesse Fuentes’ business, a kayak operation, which is no longer able to provide recreation and allow employees to earn a living by taking people down the Rio Grande. Many journalists and I were given special permission by DPS to ride down the Rio Grande. I listened to Jesse as he spoke to the journalists and later as he spoke to the Eagle Pass city council. He is a part of the fabric of this community, and it breaks his heart to see the devastating impacts of OLS.
What I saw from the kayak on the other side of the river was a beautiful park with colorful murals, playground equipment, joggers on the jogging trail with trees for shade and natural landscaping. That was in Mexico. What I saw on the US side horrified me. It can only be described as a militarized zone. What was once a park is now a parking lot full of DPS vehicles and dirt with almost no vegetation. Next I saw shipping containers lined up with razor wire on top. I saw erosion happening because the vegetation is no longer in place. I saw clothes and trash caught in the razor wire. What used to be a park is no longer a space for play and recreation.
A little further down I saw a group of three people trying to navigate the razor wire on the bank after the box car line-up ended. The woman had a crutch due to an injury. Just a few feet away were a dozen DPS troopers watching. One of the reporters asked if they were going to help the struggling woman. They replied they already helped the woman’s four-month-old baby reach safety. I couldn’t see the baby, but I could hear it cry. After some time went by, the troopers helped the woman navigate the razor wire. I saw a similar scenario repeated twice, and each time the people asked where they could go to turn themselves in to federal authorities to ask for asylum. DPS officials gave no help.
We saw the buoy barrier, which was not what I expected. It is short, so a person can easily walk around it. It is in shallow water, so a person can attempt to climb over. It has the equivalent of a saw blade in between each ball, so if a person slips on it, they will be cut. It is causing changes to the flow of the river and damage as it is being installed. It is incredibly expensive, and is the wrong solution.
We disembarked on the property of a pecan orchard, another business which has been disrupted and negatively impacted. The installation of concertina wire and the removal of vegetation created a field of dirt which OLS members use to travel up and down the riverbank on four-wheelers sending up clouds of dust that cover the leaves of the trees causing them to decline. The property owners’ dream of creating a resort with lodging and recreation is fading under layers of dust.
Other Eagle Pass residents I met while on my trip include spunky Juanita who isn’t afraid to speak her mind and to show the city council her disgust over the use of razor wire which is unnecessarily harming people. Amerika, a bright woman who grew up in Eagle Pass and only left after junior college so she could get further education and who called out the Mayor for calling the public park, Shelby Park, his own private property without any authority to do so. Robbie, a film maker who is currently working on a documentary of life in Eagle Pass which isn’t centered on OLS because the town is about so much more than “border issues.” A nineteen-year-old woman who loves the town she grew up in, but hates the destruction of her city park and the inhumanity of the operation. Poncho Nevarez, former state representative who said this is not the way to handle the border.
There were even people from outside of Eagle Pass who showed up in solidarity with their neighbors to speak to the city council. Sylvia from Laredo told about stopping the border wall in their city. An attorney from the ACLU spoke of seeing a family nearly separated by DPS as we were leaving our kayaking trip. The city council chamber was overflowing, and people spoke from the heart. They don’t like what they see happening along the border.
If you could close your eyes and ignore OLS, Eagle Pass is a charming town not so different from other Texas cities. But we can’t close our eyes and ignore the atrocities of Operation Lone Star: the negative economic impact, the environmental destruction, and the incredible inhumanity. We must do better.
Your tax dollars, over $5 billion so far, are paying for OLS. Is this what we want?
