The map of the United States is getting closer and closer to the south.
Denver is almost 1,000 kilometers from Eagle Pass, a Texas city and the main entry point for immigrants when crossing the Rio Grande. But the capital of Colorado is, according to its mayor, Mike Johnston, the most affected in the country proportionally by the arrival of undocumented immigrants.
More than 40,000 have been shipped in less than a year, “most cynically packaged in buses and distributed with less care than a truckload of Amazon packages, courtesy of Texas taxpayers,” The Colorado Sun highlighted this Sunday.
Athens, Georgia, is even further away from Eagle Pass, at 1,200 kilometers. And yet, the city, state and nation have seen a terrible controversy flare up after the death of Laken Riley, a 22-year-old nursing student.
She was found dead in a forest, near the university campus. José Ibarra, a 26-year-old Venezuelan who entered illegally through the Mexico border in 2022, was arrested as the alleged perpetrator. Immediately, Donald Trump and his supporters accused President Joe Biden of having innocent blood on his hands.
Although, among other cities, the prize goes to New York, which is the most distant point from Eagles Pass (2,000 kilometers) of the three. The Big Apple has received about 200,000 undocumented immigrants since the spring of a couple of years ago. Mayor Eric Adams, who has gone so far as to say that immigration will end the city of immigration, to the embarrassment of the majority of residents and liberal politicians, sparked another debate by proposing that this metropolis stop having the “sanctuary city” sign. for immigrants.
Adams, besieged by corruption investigations of people close to him, by his tendency towards personal secrecy (he is very fond of private parties) and by his inability to face the economic demand of caring for so many newly arrived and homeless people, has chosen to populism.
Encouraged by the far-right press, including vigilantes, the former police mayor intends for immigration repression services to operate in the city of skyscrapers, something unusual, after several cases of violence carried out by undocumented immigrants.
So, Eagle Pass, so far away but so close. Immigration has become the main concern of Americans and has established itself as the most relevant issue in the November elections. Even Biden himself is trying to issue an executive order to cut the rights of undocumented immigrants and accelerate deportations.
The number of border apprehensions grew from 1.86 million in fiscal year 2021 to 2.5 million in 2022 and a similar figure in 2023.
The president and the former president, in whose language only the word invasion fits, made separate visits last Thursday to the Texas border territory. Biden, to Brownsville, and Trump, to Eagle Pass.
Aside from Trump's rhetoric, who also did not know how to tackle the issue and who has sabotaged a pact between the two parties for electoral gain (lest he be left without his favorite verse of the Apocalypse), the true architect of this anti-immigrant furor responds by Greg Abbott, the far-right governor of Texas,
The idea of “packaging” immigrants arose in Arizona, but Abbott has made it his own. Like the Chinese straw, the Texas governor has not stopped sending buses to what he disqualifies as liberal cities in the United States and, instead of seeking legal solutions, he has spread the crisis throughout the country.
And he, proud as the greatest exponent against the Democratic government, even challenges the Supreme Court. Last month he ruled in favor of the Biden administration and allowed the federal government to temporarily remove the wire fences that Abbott ordered installed surrounding the slope of the Rio Grande, territory that, due to its status, borders Washington. Deaf ears. Some remove and Abbott places again, awaiting the final resolution of the case.
He is not alone, many neighbors have shown their total conviction of the need for this fence and the owners of land near the river collaborate in the installation. Others, however, are part of the complaint against the governor for placing buoy barriers in the cause and preventing immigrants from reaching US soil, considering that it threatens the lives of people trying to cross.
The increase in immigrants has had another impact on the directly affected area. Emergency services, from firefighters to ambulances, have seen the number of assistance skyrocket. Rescuers in Eagle Pass admit they are traumatized by seeing so many parents drowning trying to help their children survive the ordeal of the Rio Grande.
