Illegal Immigrant Crisis Stings Border Town in Unexpected Way

‘You close the bridge to legal shoppers ... to open the way for illegal people coming across under the bridge; it makes no sense,’ an Eagle Pass resident said.

Illustration by The Epoch Times, Getty Images, Charlotte Cuthbertson/The Epoch Times

EAGLE PASS, Texas—Benny Rodriguez, an 80-year-old grandfather of seven, beams as he points to faded photographs on the wall and proudly narrates the story of Eagle Grocery, a family-run business since 1939.

It withstood a fire in 1948. It emerged from a flood in 1954. And since 2002, the 11,000-square-foot store has persevered in the shadow of a 218,000-square-foot Walmart Supercenter two miles away.