VADO, New Mexico (Border Report) – Driving a borrowed Winnebago that gets 12 miles to the gallon, Bruce Poppy pulled into the parking lot of a track just west of the Texas state line to talk about illegal immigration, the fentanyl epidemic and loss of values.
The Florida resident was preaching to a choir of like-minded individuals who came to Vado Speedway Park late Thursday to welcome an expected caravan of vehicles from all over the country headed to protest immigration policy at the border as part of the Take Back Our Border Convoy.
Instead, the lone Winnebago pulled in.
“I wish there was more people that came with me. But wherever there’s two like-minded people – and right now there’s more than two …” Poppy told a crowd that an hour earlier was listening to Christian music, praying and watching a video that posed the question of “when will the invasion at the border end?”
Poppy, a conservative podcaster from suburban Tampa, explained the Take Back Our Border Convoy gave participants a choice of three places along the border where to air their grievances against a Biden administration – and Democratic and Republican enablers – that has allowed millions of asylum-seekers into the country in the past three years.
Most people coming from the East Coast and the South chose an Eagle Pass destination that has garnered headlines as thousands of people have crossed into the U.S. there recently and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott and the Biden administration fight over the state placing razor wire there to discourage illegal crossings. Others from the West Coast opted for nearby San Ysidro, California.
Few were willing to make the cross-country trip from Austin, Texas, to Yuma, Arizona.
“We the people need to stay together, bring numbers together if we want to bring awareness for our state, local and federal officials to uphold the laws that are on the books. We don’t need any new laws to change the situation, we just need to uphold them,” Poppy said.
Kathy Stout speaks at a rally in Vado Speedway in Vado, New Mexico, to welcome the Take Back Our Border Convoy.
Frustration with the current enforcement of U.S. immigration laws was evident among participants in the event co-organized by Republican Senate candidate Ben Luna.
“We are Americans, we are the people, and right now, we are losing our country,” said attendee Kathy Stout. “The laws do need to change but right now we’re not enforcing them. What laws are we enforcing?”
The Rev. Mateo Rodriguez, pastor of The Potter House in Anthony, New Mexico, said he doesn’t believe everyone coming across the border illegally is here to do Americans harm, but he also doesn’t buy all are good people with a lawful claim.
“What I believe is missing is an honest-to-God good look at the whole issue,” Rodriguez said. “There are good and bad people in every nation in the world. If we have a system in place, a port of entry, a way to do it (legally), regardless if it is easy or not, that is the way we as a nation have agreed we want people to come into the country.”
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