QUEMARD, Texas — Trump 2024 flags flew alongside Christian flags as crowds gathered at a rural Texas ranch to denounce the president and those who entered the United States through the nearby Rio Grande River. .
Many of those who arrived in the border town of Quemado on Friday for the “Reclaim Our Borders” rally said they were meeting peacefully and as Christians against illegal activity. Musicians, vendors, political signs and colorful clothing at the rally stood in sharp contrast to the razor wire, camouflage uniforms and weapons deployed at the border section of Eagle Pass, 20 miles (32 km) to the south.
The group arrived around 8pm local time on Friday and merged onto a two-lane country road, forming a long line of mostly private cars, rental cars and recreational vehicles.
They were led by a man on horseback waving a Christian flag (a white flag with a blue square and a red cross in the upper left corner), and three commercial trucks and several buses were the only ones in the open. They entered the premises one by one through the entrance.
The convoy was originally billed as 700,000 trucks heading from Virginia to three border points, but that never happened.
However, in Texas, people driving trucks towing cars, RVs, and campers joined the group midway through. Organizers said the convoy numbered about 200 vehicles when it arrived at the Texas border. NBC News could not independently confirm the number, but observed at least 100 vehicles.
Dorothy Richards, 67, a retiree from New Braunfels, was attending a motorcade rally in Dripping Springs, Texas, near Austin, when she arrived before the motorcade. did. Take Our Border Back organizers held a Dripping Springs event at a whiskey distillery, where Richards said free beer steins were given out.
She carried a Texas flag on Friday, but later replaced it with a sign supporting Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in his showdown with President Joe Biden over immigration. “Biden had a chance,” she said.
“Governor Abbott and Texas NG” [National Guard] Secure our borders,” Richards' sign read.
The Biden administration and Mr. Abbott have been at odds over immigration enforcement, with Mr. Abbott sending migrants allowed to await U.S. hearings to Democratic-led cities and running his own border security. . Mr. Abbott is using the Texas National Guard and state police to apprehend people who enter the United States illegally and installing razor wire along the border. Border Patrol agents said some actions were preventing them from carrying out their mission.
Ms Richards said conflicts over immigration could lead to civil war, but she believed it was necessary. “What should I do? Should I stop and leave it alone? [illegal immigration] happen? ” she asked.
This event could easily have been a Trump rally, with flags, MAGA hats, and even cardboard playing cards. Some went even further by preparing hearses with “Trump 2024” written on the front door and “Harnessing one Democratic vote at a time” written in all caps on the back.
Alma Arredondo Lynch, 67, of Concan, Texas, walked through the ranch grounds wearing a rhinestone “Women For Trump” brooch and a wide-brimmed hat. Friday evening's rain and thunder were pushed aside by Saturday's bright sun and warm temperatures.
“I believe that if there are no borders, there is no sovereignty. And if we don't have sovereignty, we won't be civil,” she said. Drug cartels own and operate the border, she said.
Like several others, she said she's not opposed to people coming to the border, but they should arrive legally.
The rally was largely peaceful, except for clashes with a small number of demonstrators who claimed to be affiliated with Street Preachers. They began their protest using loudspeakers late Friday, but were forced to move to the other side of the street by a motorcade and rally organizers. They held anti-LGBTQ and Islamophobic signs.
Organizers used their own loudspeakers to distance themselves from demonstrators and tell rally participants that they did not agree with demonstrators' views.
But some rally-goers did not distance themselves from the anti-immigrant rhetoric used by Mr. Abbott, Mr. Trump and others, raising alarm. President Trump said immigrants were “tainting our nation's blood,” but Abbott said Biden would charge state officials with “murder” because states crossed the border illegally. He said he had not shot people to death, prompting some backlash.
Mr. Abbott was scheduled to host several Republican governors in Eagle Pass on Sunday for a press conference on immigration and the border.
Asked about President Trump's anti-immigrant rhetoric, Scotty Clay, a resident of Alpena, Arkansas, who declined to give his age, said, “Sometimes President Trump stirs the pot…just to stir up the media.”
“We have a war at home. It's on our southern border,” he said.
Pastor and Vote Common Good executive director Doug Padgitt also hosted a rally at the Ranch and Eagle over the weekend to refute claims that conservatives and far-right groups constitute “God's Army.” I was on the pass. And he said he supports faith leaders who don't agree with them or Abbott.
“When you hear people like this trucker squad say they are God's army and support a Christian nationalist mindset, places like Eagle Pass are targeted. ,” Pagitt said. The belief that Christianity is the default religion for this country and that it is what makes America great.
“A lot of people are coming here and saying the governor shouldn't listen to federal law. It kind of sounds like insurrection,” he said.
He said that while the convoys may be peaceful, they are attracting other groups seeking to provoke violence. He said he and other religious leaders were advised by Eagle Pass police not to have outdoor hot dog fights or prayer walks. Sunday at Shelby Park after police could not guarantee their safety.
Marco Castillo, a 29-year-old Eagle Pass onlooker standing across from the ranch entrance Friday afternoon, said rally participants should have come to the area in December when there were more crosswalks.
“What on earth is this for? It's for a show,” he said, adding that he had seen Dr. Phil's helicopter in the sky. “show.”
He doesn't think Abbott's enforcement operation, called Operation Lone Star, needs to take place in Eagle Pass. “Look at what they brought to the table,” he says.
