Small Texas border city lands unsolicited spotlight in state-federal showdown over border security

By VALERIE GONZALEZ
Associated Press

EAGLE PASS, Texas (AP) — A Texas border city has gained an unsolicited spotlight in an extraordinary showdown between the state’s Republican governor and Democratic White House over border security. Mayor Rolando Salinas says Eagle Pass is about “more than just the immigration crisis,” but that message is hard to convey. An unprecedented migrant surge has transformed the sprawling town of about 30,000 people. Texas seized control of the city’s riverfront park in early January and has denied access to federal officials in a campaign that U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas calls “unconscionable.”