EAGLE PASS—A half-mile west of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass is a small neighborhood, mostly renters, some with children and some, like retiree Rosalinda, living alone.
While the governor and a gaggle of state legislators were preparing for a press conference within sight of the duplex where she lives, Rosalinda was hanging laundry while a granddaughter played nearby. She asked not to have her family name used in this article.
Rosalinda graduated from Eagle Pass High School and has rarely strayed far from Maverick County. She remembers fondly when traveling back and forth across the border was safe. Over the last few years, she said she has not felt safe even in her neighborhood.
“We’d see them coming across. Hundreds and hundreds,” she said, referring to the deluge of illegal aliens who would wade across the river and into Shelby Park for processing and release by federal officials. “Most didn’t stay around but it never felt safe.”
That changed last month, she said, when the state seized the park, installed concertina wire, and announced law enforcement would be arresting anyone who entered from Mexico. Rosalinda said the difference has been unlike anything she would have imagined.
“I just got used to it,” she said. “Now I worry about how long until the state gives up.”
Rosalinda said she rarely votes and would not offer an opinion on the presidential race except to say that the Biden administration should be doing what the state is doing.
“I hope the governor doesn’t let up.”
