Troop deployment creates tension on South Texas border [View all]

[TexasTowelie]

BROWNSVILLE — As the first active-duty military troops sent to the U.S. border with Mexico installed coils of razor wire on a bridge and a riverbank Friday, a sense of unease spread across Texas’ Rio Grande Valley.

President Donald Trump’s portrayal of a border under siege by drug smugglers and other criminals is at odds with what many residents in towns along the 1,954-mile divide with Mexico see in their daily routines, with U.S. border towns consistently ranking among the safest in the country.

Some Valley residents question the need for a large military presence and fear it will tarnish the area’s image. And some are afraid of violence if the caravan of Central American migrants that the troops have been sent to confront reaches the U.S. border.

While the southern tip of Texas is the busiest corridor for illegal crossings, border agents make many arrests far from public view, on uninhabited banks of the Rio Grande and on nearby dirt paths and roads lined by thick brush.

Read more: https://www.statesman.com/news/20181103/troop-deployment-creates-tension-on-south-texas-border