Congressional Delegation Visits Eagle Pass to Review Impact of Operation Lone Star on Asylum-Seekers and Federal Immigration Enforcement
By: Ricardo E. Calderon, Eagle Pass Business Journal, Inc., Copyright 2023
Congressman Joaquin Castro (TX-20) lead a Hispanic Congressional Caucus and Texas Congressional delegation to Eagle Pass, Texas on Tuesday, August 8, 2023 to review Texas Governor Greg Abbott’s controversial Operation Lone Star’s impact on migrant asylum-seekers and federal immigration enforcement, specifically the deadly razor sharp concertina wire and floating buoys in the Rio Grande.
Castro was joined in the delegation by Congresswoman Sylvia Garcia (TX-29), Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee (TX-18), Congressman Tony Cardenas (CA-18), and Texas State Senator Roland Gutierrez, who represents Eagle Pass.
Delegation members visited Eagle Pass farmers, Hugo and Magaly Urbina, and their Heavenly Farms, LLC pecan orchard on the banks of the Rio Grande River. Governor Abbott’s Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) Troopers and Texas Military Department National Guard Soldiers installed military-grade razor concertina wire on the Urbina’s property and the Rio Grande banks as well as the floating buoys in the Rio Grande. Despite asylum-seekers getting injured by the razor concertina wire and the Urbina’s request to Abbott’s Operation Lone Star to remove it from their property, DPS and Texas National Guard troops have seized their pecan orchard’s river bank and damaged their pecan trees without removing it.
The delegation also met with Eagle Pass citizens and non-profits who have personally been affected by the consequences of Operation Lone Star at a meeting at City Hall that included Jessie F. Fuentes, owner of Epi’s Canoe and Kayak Team, LLC, and plaintiff in a lawsuit challenging Abbott’s buoys and Operation Lone Star; Valeria Wheeler, Executive Director of Mission: Border Hope, a local migrant services organization; Karyme Flores, an Eagle Pass college student at Texas Women’s University and member of the Eagle Pass Border Coalition; Patti Hernandez, a member of the Eagle Pass Border Coalition; Audrey Mulholland, attorney at Texas RioGrande Legal Aid who has defended thousands of migrants arrested for Criminal Trespass under Operation Lone Star; and Doug Keller, attorney at the Lubbock Private Defenders Office and Legal Director for Operation Lone Star Defense.
Joining the delegation at this Eagle Pass City Hall were Eagle Pass Mayor Rolando Salinas, Jr., State Representative Heriberto “Eddie” Morales, Jr., Eagle Pass Interim City Manager Ivan Morua, Eagle Pass Police Chief Fred Garza, and members and staff of the Eagle Pass City Council, and LULAC National President Domingo Garcia.
The delegation also received a briefing on Operation Lone Star from representatives of the Texas Department of Public Safety.
Following the DPS Operation Lone Star briefing, the delegation took a personal tour of the Eagle Pass city-owned Shelby Park to inspect the razor concertina wire, the buoys, boat ramp, and the take over of the public park by DPS as its command and staging center for Operation Lone Star at the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass. Despite the Eagle Pass City Council’s rescission of a Criminal Trespass Affidavit signed by Eagle Pass Mayor Salinas at their August 1, 2023 meeting, DPS remains in control of the public Shelby Park as its command center.
Following the visit to Shelby Park, the delegation received a private, closed briefing from the U.S. Border Patrol regarding the impact of Operation Lone Star on migrants seeking asylum and federal enforcement of immigration laws.
The delegation capped-off the visit by hosting a press conference at the Eagle Pass International Center for Trade detailing some of their findings and fielding questions from the press.
