McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — Community members gathered on the banks of the Rio Grande on Monday evening to remember asylum-seekers who have drowned trying to cross into the border town of Eagle Pass, Texas.
Wearing white and light colors, over a dozen people sang and held hands and gave memorials about those who died trying to cross from Piedras Negras, Mexico.
They also threw white flowers into the swirling Rio Grande.
Participants of Monday night’s border vigil in Eagle Pass, Texas, wore white to honor migrants who have died trying to cross the Rio Grande. (Photos Courtesy Eagle Pass Border Vigil)
The vigil was held “in remembrance of the needless loss of lives along the Rio Grande,” the invitation to the twilight service read.
Memorials included that of a 3-year-old boy who drowned on Sept. 21 while trying to cross the river with a group of asylum-seekers.
White flowers are thrown into the Rio Grande on Oct. 2, 2023, during a vigil to remember migrants who have drowned in the Rio Grande in Eagle Pass, Texas. (Photo Courtesy Eagle Pass Border Vigil)
Participants gathered at Shelby Park, which is now a staging area for Texas DPS troopers and National Guard who patrol the banks as part of the state’s border security initiative known as Operation Lone Star.
Shelby Park is a public park that the city’s mayor briefly closed to the public for Operation Lone Star, but the city council reopened the park.
Eagle Pass has been a hotspot for migrants crossing from northern Mexico with numbers exceeding 10,000 per day in September.
Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.
Read: Read More