4 A.M. in Del Rio
As the tide drops, navigating the banks of the Rio Grande becomes more manageable. Along the 1,200-mile boundary are points where the United States and Mexico are only feet away from each other, the river easily crossed in the right conditions. In the dead of a cloudy night in June, a group of migrants made their way across the river, across the invisible line dividing the two countries.
After fording the river, the group walked toward two Department of Public Safety officers who were parked by a dusty road near the riverbank. The officers were part of a 1,000-member deployment to the border through Operation Lone Star, Texas’ latest effort to “combat the smuggling of people and drugs into Texas,’’ according to a press release by the governor’s office.
