Coming Down to the Wire   

Tension in the United States over skyrocketing illegal immigration was ratcheted up another notch last week in the continuing back-and-forth between the federal government and the state of Texas.

The federal government’s turn came on Monday, January 22, in the form of a Supreme Court order. In a 5-4 ruling, the Court vacated an earlier injunction issued by the Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals. That injunction prohibited the US Customs and Border Protection agency (CBP) from tearing down concertina wire that was installed on the border with Mexico by the Texas State Guard, under orders from Governor Greg Abbott.

Although many have interpreted the Supreme Court ruling as authorizing the CBP to resume tearing down the concertina wire (essentially coiled razor wire), the federal government has taken no action to do so, as of press time. And Abbott pointed out in an interview on Fox News that the ruling did not prohibit him from putting the wire back up.

Eagle Pass, a city of 28,000 in Maverick County, Texas, about 142 miles west-southwest of San Antonio, sits on the front lines of this debate. The town’s economy benefits from a form of “tourism.” On an average day, 6,000 people cross the Rio Grande River from the Mexican city of Piedras Negras into Eagle Pass, often making purchases in the local establishments. On weekends, the number rises to 10,000 — swelling the town population by more than a third. And that’s just from people entering the US legally.