The refugee crisis is dominating the US election campaign. In no other place are the consequences as evident as in Eagle Pass, Texas. Our reporter was in the small town that they are already calling “Ground Zero.”
The wall itself appears insurmountable, seven meters high and made of steel. But behind the wall there are several rolls of barbed wire, galvanized and razor sharp. And behind the barbed wire there are armed soldiers from the Texas National Guard and armored off-road vehicles. Only behind that is the actual border, the Rio Grande.
It looks like a military base, like a restricted area in a war zone, like the setting for a martial film.
Or an election campaign prop.
That is the question.
“No access, unfortunately,” says a young soldier with a rifle at the ready at the entrance gate.
But it is a public park, one might object, Shelby Park.
“Not anymore,” he says.
Since when?
“Not long yet.”
Who ordered this?
