Over the past several months, the number of illegal aliens crossing the southern border has steadily declined.
Further, due to the military-like standoff at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass at the turn of the new year, illegal aliens who would have crossed at the once hotspot have been redirected to other nearby parts of the state.
With the 2024 presidential election right around the corner, I traveled down to Eagle Pass with a member of the Texas Scorecard studio team to see what it is like now.
By the time we reached the small city, it was clear that the dust had settled. It was as if a curtain of eerie silence had been draped over the city—which at one point was practically overflowing with crime and illegal aliens.
To say that Shelby Park was locked down would be an understatement. At the turn of the new year, the park had been the subject of a standoff between the Texas National Guard and the U.S. Border Patrol.
Humvees, military personnel, and barbed wire composed the entirety of the small plot’s population. Despite the lack of activity in and around the park, the national guardsman at the gate denied us entry into the premises, stating that he would “get in trouble” just for talking off-the-record to journalists.
The city itself was ominous too. Everything, and everyone, was evidently tense. Virtually no one we saw was looking at their phones as they walked down the street—a kind of situational awareness that is uncharacteristic of most American cities these days.
Massive wild hogs wandered the areas closest to the Rio Grande. Apart from them, and the occasional U.S. Border Patrol pickup truck, the river bank was quiet. It was clear, though, that much activity had once occurred at the spot we were standing. The trash, discarded clothes, and plastic bags left behind by illegal border crossings were strewn about the waterfront.
Before visiting this area of the river, I had asked a Border Patrol agent nearby for directions to an accessible part of the river to take photographs. Refusing to give us his name, he suggested that I visit this spot, which was not only a popular fishing spot in Eagle Pass but was also a very high-traffic area for illegal river crossings in the not-too-distant past.
It quickly became clear to me that whatever deal President Joe Biden reportedly struck with Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador to slow crossings was working like a charm. Yet, it has been suggested that this deal was meant to only last until the November election in a fleeting attempt to salvage the Democrat nominee’s plummeting approval rating.
Nevertheless, the damage to our country and state as a result of destructive open-border policies had already been done—both to people and to property.
The outcome of the November 2024 presidential election will determine what the fate of the Texas-Mexico border will be.
