Eagle Pass residents watch as their city becomes an arena for convoys – and policies fail to address their real concerns

Just a few blocks from a riverbank park in Eagle Pass that’s been turned into a no-go militarized zone by Texas troops, local pastor Javier Leyva was attempting a normal Sunday.

He was cultivating fellowship with congregants of his First United Methodist church and other residents downtown, on the US-Mexico border. But, as so often, events were to intrude. A fringe, rightwing group was headed to town.

His small city is under unwanted global scrutiny because of people migrating here and the forces that want to stop them.