Day 1 On The Border
Its Russ Jowell here. I'm going to go ahead and update you on the progress of my piece. I did settle on Eagle Pass, TX and spent today touring the town with the mayor. Let me tell you, perception is miles away from reality in this case. So far, I have found nothing. Thats right...nothing. No guns, no violence, no riots, no drugs, not much of anything really "juicy". What I have found though is something of a Romeo and Juliet story here. After spending the day with the mayor, I found that Eagle Pass and its Mexican counterpart of Piedras Negras consider themselves to be two halves to a single community separated by a river. In fact, I would go as far as to say that the two would probably become one if the river were non existent. Both cities have a hand in the other's life. There are people on either side who work on one side and live on the other, volunteer on either side, and emergency services from both towns help each other out, as was the case when a tornado struck a few months back. Piedras Negras is also one of the finest (and cleanest) towns in Mexico I have seen. As you cross, you a greeted with the picturesque municipal building. With the exception of some narrow streets, Piedras is comprable to any small town in America (there's even a burger king, quality inn, and a sams club). Crime in both cities is practically nill minus the few hodlums and troublemakers that any city deals with. And as for the (il) legal immigration issue, Mayor Foster has lost all faith in DHS and Washington. The plans for the wall call for it to completely cut off EP's riverfront municipal golf course, riverfront park, and some other ideal land. There are also dense forests of carrizo cane along the banks of the Rio Grande that "could hide World War 3". The real problem he believes, is the hour long wait time it takes to cross the int'l bridge and the lack of personnel for the amount of traffic it bears. He thinks the solution is to focus on the ports and not the "ocean" (river). He's going to try and line me up with a ranch owner tmrw and to try and attend a council meeting. Anyway, thats where I'm at. ttyl
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- tags:
- Immigration, Dallas, Eagle Pass
