A caravan of Trump supporters demands control of the US border with Mexico

Suddenly, a ranch in a tiny Texas border town became the temporary capital of Trumpism this Saturday. Hundreds of white men and women with American and Texas flags; posters against the Black Lives Matter movement or gays, slogans from the current Republican candidate's campaign such as “let's take back America” or “let's take back our border” and caps in support of former President Donald Trump went to the Cornerstone Children ranch, in Quemado. It was the last stop of a convoy that traveled halfway across the United States for a week to reach this area bordering Mexico, Eagle Pass. The reason for this caravan, which described itself as the “Army of God,” has been to show support for Governor Greg Abbott, who has deployed the National Guard to try to wrest immigration control from federal authorities. Despite fears of possible incidents, the assembly, surrounded by strong police surveillance, took place peacefully. But extremism experts warn that the dispute is giving rise to conspiracy theories, white supremacy and the same rhetoric that inspired the violence in Congress.

“We are here to demand that our country be returned to us,” says Sandy, a 71-year-old retired teacher, originally from New York and living in Florida. A former Barack Obama voter, she is now a passionate supporter of Trump and claims she has traveled from her home specifically to support his agenda. “It is not enough to talk, we must also act, and here we are. These border states are being overwhelmed by all the illegals coming. And they do it because they know that the current Government is going to give them all kinds of facilities. But soon this country is going to be great again,” she points out, referring to the November elections.

Just a few kilometers beyond the ranch where the assembly is held, the atmosphere is much more volatile. Eagle Pass, a population of 28,000 people, has become the epicenter of a confrontation between Abbott and the US federal government over control of the border in the last month.

Abbott, from the hardline Republican wing, declares the entry of migrants as an “invasion” and has taken what he calls “unprecedented measures” against a flow of irregular migrants that in 2023 accounted for 2.4 million entries, 14% more with respect to 2022, and more than 300,000 of them in December. In the Del Río sector, which includes Eagle Pass, there have been 15,833 interceptions in fiscal year 2018 to more than 152,000 in the first three months of this fiscal cycle, which began in October.

With the arrival of the Administration of Democratic President Joe Biden, Abbott launched his Operation Lone Star to combat irregular immigration with soldiers from its National Guard and that of Florida, sent by the governor and former Republican presidential candidate Ron DeSantis. He has also sent buses with irregular migrants to Democratic-controlled cities and last year he placed razor buoys in the Rio Grande River that marks the border to prevent crossings. This January, he had the Texas National Guard take control of Shelby Park in Eagle Pass, on the edge of the river, and prevented the passage of the federal Border Guard, which until then used those lands as one of its operations centers.

Since then, the federal and Texan governments have been locked in a fight in which neither is willing to give in: the Supreme Court has ruled in favor of Washington, which remembers that border control is its responsibility, but Abbott has chosen to allege that his State has the right to self-defense. Instead of removing the concertina wires and barbed wire, he assures that he will install more, despite his critics denouncing that it puts lives in danger and violates the US Constitution: along Main Street, the street that leads to the bridges that connect the city with In Mexico, ambulances frequently pass by to help migrants injured by buoys or wire fences. What was a place where neighbors went to fish, organize picnics or listen to concerts, has now become a militarized post where soldiers with machine guns control access, golf players have to dodge military trucks and the baseball field is the times of heliport.

This Saturday, the fear that extremists attracted by the concentration in Quemado will approach Shelby Park and cause disturbances has led the local police to block access. A man who identifies himself as Max and a former soldier attacks the agents for not being able to pass: “They violate my civil rights! Shame on them for protecting illegals instead of patriots!”

As many as 25 Republican governors have sided with Abbott. Also former President Trump, who has written on his social network, Truth Social, that Texas “must receive full support to repel the invasion.”

These types of calls run parallel to increasingly tougher positions on border control, which Republicans aspire to make the big campaign issue in this election year. A bill being negotiated by Republicans and Democrats in Congress that tightens control measures – it provides that Biden can close the border when an average of 5,000 illegal crossings are detected daily for a week – is on the verge of failing due to rejection of the hard wing of the first.

That rhetoric and Abbott's rebellion only aggravate the split in an already deeply divided society and normalize violent language and ideas—including the so-called “great substitution theory,” which believes there is a grand plot to replace the white American population by minorities—which until a few years ago were considered marginal, according to extremism experts. “The confrontation between Texas and the federal government has become a magnet for vigilantism [corriente que propugna la autodefensa cuando el Estado falla] far right. A perfect example of this troubling problem is the Reclaim Our Border convoy that arrived at the conflict in Eagle Pass this weekend,” says Devin Burghart, president of the Institute for Research and Education on Human Rights (IREHR). ).

“From the organizers of the caravan on down, the same dangerous elements participate in the protest as in the January 6 insurrection (which stormed the Capitol to try to prevent Joe Biden from becoming president in 2021): members of militias, deniers of the election results, QAnon conspiracy theorists, Covid negotiators and other extreme right-wingers,” says the expert.

Groups like the Proud Boys, who played an important role in the January 6 riot, have been very forceful in their support for Abbott and his positions and have not hesitated to use violent language. A member of that militia in south Texas urged his followers on the social network Telegram to “grab their weapons.” Supporters of the neo-Nazi group Aryan Network called for “resistance” from white males.

“Everyone in power, from the White House to hedge fund managers to the Supreme Court of the United States, has decided to destroy this country by allowing it to be invaded. This means that the population has to defend themselves. Where are the Texas men? Why are they not protecting their State and the country?” former Fox network commentator Tucker Carlson tweeted last week.

Congressmen like Verónica Escobar, Democrat of Texas, remember that this type of rhetoric led to the El Paso massacre—in this congresswoman's electoral district—in 2019, when a white supremacist opened fire in a Walmart chain store and killed 23 people, and injured another 22, in retaliation for what he considered a “Hispanic invasion.” “We cannot accept the status quo and we cannot accept the normalization of this language, because it is becoming normalized,
and we have to stop it,” Escobar warned in a telephone press conference last Thursday.

Regarding the Army of God caravan, Burghart considers, despite everything: “I am less concerned about this particular episode (…) and more about the implications of that type of rhetoric becoming a reality.”

Follow all the international information on Facebook and xor in our weekly newsletter.

_