EAGLE PASS, Texas – Residents and officials in Eagle Pass said they are seeing small but significant signs of normalcy return months after Shelby Park was closed and taken over as part of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s Operation Lone Star.
U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) data shows a dramatic drop in illegal border crossings in the Del Rio Sector, which includes Eagle Pass. That decline appears to be changing day-to-day life in this border community.
Shelby Park reopened to the public in April. Visitors are now able to come and go freely, although visible signs of law enforcement and fencing remain, tied to the state’s ongoing border security operation.
“They were taking away from the community the space that we used to enjoy,” one resident said.
Another Eagle Pass local, Alfonso Mallen, said he used to see large buses and migrant groups daily.
“Every day, it was like a sure thing that I was going to see a big Greyhound bus just waiting for large groups,” Mallen said. “We would always see immigrants crossing through our neighborhood. The past four or five months, we’ve seen none.”
Some residents said they’re still hesitant to return to Shelby Park.
“I haven’t taken my kids or my family like I used to because it’s still militarized,” one man told KSAT.
Others, like Laura Veronica Pope, are just glad to see change.
“It’s really beneficial for the city and for us, the citizens,” Pope said.
Long-term impact seen in border community
Maverick County Judge Ramsey English Cantu called the reopening a step in the right direction. Still, he said he wants to see the park fully returned to its former state.
“They need to go and take the next steps to clear out and get this park back to what it once was,” Cantu said. “Our border, of course, here is not the same as it once was.”
According to CBP, from February to May, the Del Rio Sector experienced over 1,000 migrant encounters in a single month. That’s a significant drop compared to the same period last year when monthly encounters ranged from 10,000 to 14,000. However, a decline in encounters began in mid-2024.
Unidentified migrant remains finally laid to rest
The lower number of illegal crossings has also had another effect: it has given local officials and nonprofits the time and capacity to identify the remains of deceased migrants stored in a refrigerated trailer since late last year.
In October, KSAT reported on Maverick County and the City of Eagle Pass using a mobile morgue trailer to hold the remains of unidentified migrants who died attempting to cross the border. At the time, the trailer was full.
However, as of early June, that trailer is empty.
County officials, working with nonprofit partners, were able to identify many of the remains, sending them back to loved ones or ensuring proper burials for those who could not be identified.
“As of the point of clearing out the EOC morgue, we have not seen any reports of any migrant death that is being reported,” Cantu said. “I’m grateful that we haven’t seen the numbers to the level that they once were because no individual should ever have to go through something like that.”
Cantu credited the decline in crossings for creating the breathing room to handle a long-lingering humanitarian burden.