EAGLE PASS, TEXAS Tommy Brown smiles with his mouth closed because he is missing several teeth.
Brown says he lost his teeth in 2020 during the Black Lives Matter protests after fighting to defend the police. Brown planned to get dental implants this year, but decided to wait until the end of the year.
He figures there’s more fighting to come.
– I will probably lose the rest of my teeth this year. I’m a patriot, I love my country – if you try to take it away from me, suffer the consequences. So did I, says Brown.
Tommy Brown has arrived in Texas right near the Mexican border as part of an anti-illegal immigration cartel. He is once again at the center of events.
The border town of Eagle Pass, with a population of less than 30,000, has become the scene of a political twist in recent weeks, the consequences of which will radiate as far as Europe.
Additional support for Ukraine depends on border policy
Governor of Texas Greg Abbott ordered the state National Guard to take over Shelby Park in Eagle Pass in January.
The park was one of the safest places to cross the Rio Grande, the border river that flows between Mexico and the United States, until the National Guard built a homemade border wall made of shipping containers and barbed wire on the American side of the river.
The US Supreme Court has ruled that the Federal Border Patrol can remove barbed wire. So far, that hasn’t happened, but the park is patrolled by National Guardsmen, and the barbed wire is in place.
Brown and many other Trump supporters in town believe the situation could flare up into a conflict between the feds and the National Guard if the feds tried to force their way into the park.
Abbott justifies the rebellion by saying the federal government has not done enough to stop illegal border crossings. Half of the US governors have expressed their support for Abbott’s actions.
– Without arresting illegal immigrants, Biden has let them all into the country, without being able to find out their intentions. We are witnessing the catastrophic consequences of Biden’s open border policy, Abbott said at a news conference at the border on Sunday.
The number of illegal border crossings has increased sharply in the last couple of years. Last December alone, the border guard apprehended a record 370,000 people who crossed the border illegally.
Republicans blame the situation on the president Joe Biden administration and Democrats who haven’t reacted strongly enough, according to Republicans, to stop illegal immigration.
The situation is also being held hostage by US support for Ukraine. Republican politicians, especially in the House of Representatives, have demanded that the border policy must be changed before Ukraine can be promised more support for the war against Russia.
The tactic has been effective. In the negotiations in the Senate, even the Democratic politicians have now come to support strict border policies.
The deal presented on Sunday would include $60 billion for Ukraine, $14 billion for Israel and $20 billion for border security. In addition, border practices would be tightened, for example by limiting the number of asylum seekers admitted to the country every day.
During the negotiations, Biden has also made a sharp turn to his previous speeches on border policy. He has vowed to be ready to close the border — if Congress gives him the tools to do so.
Not a good enough deal
There is one big problem standing in the way of the plan, which becomes clear at the Mexican border. Neither Republican politicians nor their supporters see the compromise as sufficient, let alone trust that border policies would actually be tightened.
The former president has been particularly vocal in his opposition to the agreement Donald Trumpand the message has sunk in with supporters.
Trump has urged House Republicans to vote against the compromise, even though Republicans have passed several of their demands.
The Senate is scheduled to vote on the bill on Wednesday. Even if it passes a Senate vote, a deal is extremely unlikely.
Speaker of the Republican-held House of Representatives Mike Johnson has said the package was “stillborn”.
“Our money should be spent here”
One of the main arguments of Trump’s presidential campaign against Biden is that the immigration policy has failed. If Congress reaches an agreement and the border policy escalates, the argument is not as strong.
– A bad border agreement is worse than no agreement at all, Trump wrote on the Truth Social channel a little over a week ago, and now his supporters also believe so.
Tommy Brown, who supports Trump, does not believe that the Democrats will follow the agreement on strict border practices. He is also against supporting Ukraine.
– If you ask my honest opinion, the money is ours and it should be spent here, says Brown.
– If we give them [Ukrainalle] billions more money and they don’t [demokraatit] close the border – and we know they won’t because that’s what the liberals are – so what have we achieved then?
Similar comments are repeated in the comments of other Trump supporters who have arrived at the border. Like Brown, many express their readiness for anarchy or even fight if the situation at the border does not change.
– We had better be ready. I hope the situation stays calm, but I have another feeling. A civil war could start here, Brown says.
So far, his concerns are limited to horror scenarios, as federal border guards have not actually tried to interrupt the Texas National Guard. However, there is no end in sight to the stalemate.