Mexico Pulls security forces from heavy-hit Texas border town
EAGLE PASS, Texas — The strong show of force that Mexican military and federal police displayed at the
border last week in an effort to deter illegal migration was short-lived, as all signs of security forces have since vanished.
Mexican vehicles put on a show at the border Thursday following an
agreement that Coahuila Gov. Miguel Ángel Riquelme Solís struck with
Texas Gov.
Greg Abbott days earlier, vowing to be more aggressive blocking migrants from making it to the river and streaming across into the United States.
But by Friday, the caravan of vehicles that had been on site at the riverbank was gone. Migrants were streaming across the river throughout the area. On Saturday afternoon, a family of 10 from Venezuela waded across the Rio Grande and made it to the shore then surrendered to National Guard and Border Patrol agents. Other migrants dashed out into the water as soon as the solo Mexican police vehicle in eyesight disappeared from the area.
"I guess that was all a show. The [Coahuila] governor put out those vehicles so that Governor Abbott could say, 'Hey, he's doing something. He's living up to the agreement that we signed,' which was basically, 'Hey, I'm going to provide more security on the border to try to keep immigrants from crossing the river,'" Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas said during an interview at his office Friday evening.
But the inspections had a significant impact on port of entry operations,
delaying and preventing thousands of trucks from entering the U.S. Governors from the four Mexican states that border Texas
agreed to dramatically boost security at the border in return for Abbott's ending the inspections. The Coahuila governor sent dozens of police and military to Piedras Negras as a show of force a week later in what has since turned out to be a publicity stunt, much like what critics accused Abbott of doing with the truck inspections.
The 29,000-person town of Eagle Pass has been left to pick up the pieces, disheartened that Coahuila did not seem interested in holding up its end of the bargain, thus forcing the city to gear up to handle reports from Piedras Negras that 10,000 to 20,000 people were already waiting in Piedras Negras for Title 42 to end.
Mexico pulls security forces from heavy-hit Texas border town