Eagle Pass, population a little under 30,000, has become prominent nationwide as a result of the situation there; people have even been driving vast distances from other areas of the US to see for themselves what is happening on both banks of the Rio Grande, ERR's US correspondent Laura Kalam (pictured) reported for"Välissilm."

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has announced plans to in effect militarize the border, putting in place a base for over 2,000 National Guard personnel, and has also charged the Biden administration with rank incompetence.

Shipping containers and barbed wire are among the obstacles installed along the banks of the Rio Grande, on the US side of the river, and therefore border.

Local residents however feel that they have been drawn against their will into the epicenter of a political game, one in which both they and the migrants are the victims – given the centrality of immigration policy and chaos on the borders, particularly the southern border – in the presidential race which will continue to pick up pace through to November.

The Rio Grande runs North-South in this particular location and separates Eagle Pass from the Mexican town of Piedras Negras.

A popular local facility, Shelby Park, which lies next to the river, was found closed to residents.

Michael Garcia, an Eagle Pass local, told "Välissilm": "They didn't tell us 'we want to take over your park, we want to use it, we want to establish a military base, we want to carry out a deterrent, we want to do this, we want to do that,' and give us a reason why; they didn't call our mayor, they didn't call our city council, they didn't call the sheriff, they didn't call the judge. So people were pretty upset that they would do this without any transparency, without any explanation."

Bruce Gilbeck, visiting from Minnesota said on the other hand the way in which Eagle Pass has been presented in the national media does not correspond to the current reality on the ground. "We're actually on vacation, three guys, and touring Texas, and we wanted to come to Eagle Pass to see the border crossing. Well, we're not seeing anything – it's not what was portrayed in the news anyway. So, maybe it was a problem earlier, but doesn't look like it's an issue now," Gilbeck said.

Texas Governor Greg Abbott has not found favor with many Eagle Pass residents, due to both the border policies and the fact that the town has been dragged into a political contest ahead of November's election.

Texas as a whole is a predominantly red state – not only Governor Abbott but also both senators, Ted Cruz and John Cornyn III, belong to the Republican Party.

However, Maverick County alone is more of a blue area; the Democratic Party and Joe Biden attracted more votes than did Donald Trump's Republicans, back in November 2020.

Local resident Jessie Fuentes told "Välissilm" that: "I believe it's a huge political stunt by our governor, to gain attention for the national party in this particular election year, and we're kind of like in the middle of a turf war between the state and the federal government, and the community does not appreciate that."

Nonetheless, immigration policy has been seen as the incumbent president and his party's Achilles heel.

"Välissilm" reported that statistics show that in December last year, the US-Mexico border was the scene of around 250,000 illegal crossings, while the figure for the whole of 2023 reached a record total.

Hundreds of migrants died attempting to cross the border last year. Hazards can include river crossings as would be the case at Eagle Pass.

Eagle Pass resident Garcia Grewal said: "I can see flashing lights, which make me think there's an ambulance down there, there's also three National Guard boats in the water and so I'm speculating that there was a water rescue, and it's my hope that with and ambulance there that whoever it was was able to survive the water."

This and the ongoing economic situation have prompted even the Democrats to consider stricter border policies, though with the election looming, major changes are not expected on this for the rest of this year at least.

Nonetheless, Donald Trump, likely to win the Republican nomination, is very critical of Democrats' efforts to reach an agreement with his party on this matter.

This may in part be due to the fact that any bipartite resolution and cooperation with the Biden administration may lead to a major Trump pre-election pledge, ie. to sort out the border issue once and for all, losing its impact.

Trump thus urges all Republican members of Congress to reject any border agreement, to allow him to deal with the matter at executive level, should he be elected for a second term as president.

Speaking at a recent rally in Michigan, Trump said: "We will truly become a third world county, we are going to be, we are already in many ways, if you look at our border, we are worse than a third world country, there has never, ever in history been a border like that."

The area to the North, or in the case of Eagle Pass, to the East, of the border was once Mexican territory. After admitting the independent Texas Republic, which had broken away from Mexican rule, into the Union in 1845, a war with Mexico followed from 1846-1848 and led to a vast swathe of land, including the rest of present day Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona and several other states, becoming US territory.

The original "Välissilm" slot (in Estonian and English) is below.