By David Noriega—
NBC News
Juanita Martínez approached the closed gate of Shelby Park, in Eagle Pass, next to the border with Mexico, on Tuesday afternoon and started an argument with a soldier from the Texas National Guard.
The place was closed to the public, the young soldier told him, for “safety and protection.”
“Security of what?”
Martinez replied.
Martinez, chairwoman of the Maverick County Democratic Party, is one of many people angry that her city has become the main stage for a national political drama.
In December, a record number of migrants crossed the Rio Grande, tens of thousands of them through Shelby, a 47-acre stretch of grass and ball fields on the shore.
In response, the governor, Republican Greg Abbott, ordered the National Guard to take over the site, primarily to deny access to the Border Patrol, which had used it to process migrants.
But that also closed it to the public.