In Sunland Park, they're shocked, perplexed by new razor wire on Texas border

SUNLAND PARK — As fire chief for this small, borderland New Mexican city, Daniel Medrano has a front-row seat to the ebbs and flows of illegal immigration — the migrant traffic through the desert and neighborhoods, rescues of the injured and dehydrated, the retrieval of bodies they did not reach in time — and the politics around that.

“You can see the international border from my office,” Medrano said late last week.

Since 2020, he has managed an understaffed department dealing with the broad array of emergencies for the city of nearly 18,000 residents, more than 34% of whom arrived in the United States as migrants.

Illegal immigration rates are high in this borderland area. The U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s El Paso sector, which includes the Texas counties of Hudspeth and El Paso and the entire state of New Mexico, has recorded 364,092 migrant encounters so far this fiscal year, a 59% jump from a year ago.

Migrant mortality rates are also high. During the 12 months leading up to September, 60 migrants reportedly have died trying to cross the El Paso sector. In Sunland Park, 14 migrants died between May and July.

While many migrants enter the United States to request asylum, seeking out U.S. law enforcement and surrendering, those who cross through Sunland Park are often trying to evade capture, officials said, because of a variety of legal issues that would lead to immediate deportation.

Mount Cristo Rey — “Cristo” as it is known by migrants — is the city’s towering mountain crested with a 29-foot limestone statue of Christ. Sitting on 200 acres of mountainous desert terrain connecting Texas, New Mexico and the Mexican state of Chihuahua, it is a route used by many migrants to evade detection by U.S. law enforcement. By climbing Mount Cristo Rey from Ciudad Juárez, migrants maneuver the dangerous paths over the mountain, making their way down into Sunland Park.

It’s at this point that the Rio Grande, which runs on the U.S. side of Mount Cristo Rey, ceases to be the international boundary between the United States and Mexico. In this peculiar geographic spot, the Rio Grande loosely follows the Texas-New Mexico State line. So any migrant who entered Sunland Park by crossing over Mount Cristo Rey — or by scaling the Border Wall that runs alongside the mountain — must first find a way across the river to enter El Paso.

In this mile-and-a-half stretch of the Rio Grande that separates Texas and New Mexico, the Texas governor — Greg Abbott, a controversial figure who has argued that Texas has a right to handle immigration issues independent of the federal government — has made yet another controversial move.

As an extension of Operation Lone Star, Abbott ordered the Texas National Guard to install about two miles of concertina razor wire on the Texas side of the Rio Grande, an apparent effort to contain illegal migrants inside of New Mexico.

It’s a move that surprised many in New Mexico.

“We have a very close working relationship with Border Patrol in this area,” Medrano said, “and even Border Patrol seemed to be somewhat shocked that the concertina wire came up.”

U.S. Customs and Border Protection referred inquiries into the installation of the razor wire to the Texas Department of Public Safety, which did not return messages seeking comment.

Medrano believes the new border impediment was installed on Oct. 9 or the morning of Oct. 10.

“I did not receive any advanced notice. Absolutely zero. I understand (Abbott) is trying to do the best that he can for his state. I understand he is trying to address what he believes the federal government is not addressing,” he said, and added: “I don’t think it’s going to work. That’s my personal opinion, just simply because of the way it’s laid out.”

The newly installed concertina barrier — multiple looped rows of razor wire standing about 6-feet high — lines the Texas side of the Rio Grande, leading from a point near the base of Mount Cristo Rey, running along the river and ends tucked under a pedestrian bridge known in Sunland Park as the “Anapra Bridge.”

“It’s not on an international border. It’s on a state line,” Medrano said. “So if an illegal migrant wants to cross over to the United States through New Mexico and then into Texas, then, really all they have to do is cross that very short bridge. Walk around the wire, basically.”

He also said that the razor wire was not interrupting any legal traffic between New Mexico and Texas.

“There’s no blockage of roads whatsoever,” Medrano said. “I personally drove the state line all the way to where Texas, New Mexico and old Mexico meet, and it does not impede with interstate commerce, and it does not impede with the free movement of traffic whatsoever.”

Sunland Park Mayor Javier Perea was also “a little shocked” when the razor wire went up.

“I didn’t get a notice that that was going to happen. But that part of the river is in Texas, so there’s no jurisdiction that I have over that particular part of the river,” Perea said. He added that the razor wire would be ineffective because the vehicle and pedestrian bridge is located a few feet away from where the razor wire ends.

“It doesn’t stop people going back and forth,” he said. “We have road access there. I’m trying to understand the logic behind it. I can’t figure it out just yet. So I’m not sure if it’s going to be effective at accomplishing anything.

“I do believe that it is more for optics for people outside of Texas, or further into Texas, to show, ‘We’re doing this on the Texas border,’” he said. “But in reality, just the way the geography and the state line run over here, I don’t think it is effective. People can just walk over to a street if they are migrating through there.”

“Texas can do what Texas wants to do, but I’m coming to terms with understanding the logic with putting it in this area.”

Diana Tello, a 60-year-old retired security guard who was waiting at a bus stop a short distance from the Rio Grande, said the installation of the concertina wire outside Sunland Park was “an act of cruelty.”

“I’m sorry, there’s no need for that, for razor wire,” she said. “Abbott needs to hang himself with it.”

Tello has lived in Chaparral as well as Las Cruces, and also lived in New York before moving to Santa Teresa, where she currently lives.

“Listen, these people aren’t trying to steal anything,” Tello said. “They’re just looking for help. They’re looking for work. They’re willing to take jobs that a lot of people aren’t willing to take.”

The new razor wire also has its supporters in Sunland Park.

“Things are getting outrageous and these politicians have to do something,” said the owner of a convenience store adjacent to the newly installed concertina wire.

“(Migrants) should get in line and wait, they should not try to enter the country illegally,” said the woman, who said her family came from Mexico, and declined to provide her name. “I’m getting tired of this, because it is American taxpayers who have to pay to help them.”