At the center of a fierce legal battle over immigration enforcement lies a city park along the border in Eagle Pass, Texas.
In January, Gov. Greg Abbott directed National Guard troops to take over the park, known as Shelby Park, to intercept migrants crossing the Rio Grande from Mexico. Now, at a place where residents have often gathered for picnics and play, Humvees guard makeshift gates. Coils of barbed wire bristle all around. Men and women in camouflage patrol the perimeter.
Still, there is one group of people who remain free to enter Shelby Park, as always, with no questions asked: golfers.
The Eagle Pass municipal golf course, perched on a slope that descends to the river, has continued to welcome players even as its surroundings have increasingly resembled an urban conflict zone. Anyone can play its nine holes, for a $20 weekend fee that includes clubs.
Its continued operation is one of the stark contrasts of life in this small section of the border, where desperate migrants surrender to Border Patrol in lush pecan orchards, and Texas law enforcement officers, locked in a tense standoff with the federal government, are also careful not to damage the golf course greens.
Upon arriving at the course, it is immediately apparently that there is something different about this one: Golf carts are lined up along a towering black fence that runs along either side of the golf shop. The structure was erected by the federal government more than a decade ago, long before the recent surges of migrants, to help maintain security on the U.S. border.