MICHAEL KOSTA: Eagle Pass, Texas has become the epicenter
of the national immigration debate, as over the last year,
an unprecedented number of migrants
crossed here to apply for asylum.
And for many observers, this complex issue can
only be summed up in one word.
Invasion.
We are being invaded.
We're being invaded.
We're being invaded just like it's a military invasion.
MICHAEL KOSTA: But how are the locals
coping with this relentless onslaught?
They've come and taken over the town.
It's our land, and there's just people coming in.
They're causing havoc and craziness.
There's chaos.
Shouldn't you be welcoming?
Don't you have any empathy for the journey
they've taken to get here?
They're not welcome.
Get the hell out of our place.
You can't move around with seeing them.
You can't get a meal in a restaurant.
You can't get a hotel room unless you're
willing to pay $400.
Wait, wait, who are you talking about right now?
The state guard from Florida, Tennessee, Arkansas, Idaho.
Oh.
What you need to be afraid of is some
of these convoys of people.
You're talking about Central American caravans.
Oh, no, we're talking about the people that
are invading the country here.
Not the Mexicans.
The invasion here is from Governor Abbott and the
Trumpers and the MAGA people.
MICHAEL KOSTA: Yes, Eagle Pass has
been overrun since governor Greg Abbott declared a crisis
at the border and sent in the Texas National Guard,
attracting a flood of Republican governors,
congressional delegations, and even billionaire weirdos.
This is our taxpayer dollars being put to use
by coming out to Eagle Pass.
And what's happened, is it's jacked up the hotel prices.
Our room is $370, and they don't even
have any hand lotion, Judy.
Understood, understood.
What is your message to the people that
want to come down here and--
Don't come.
OK, but be more clear.
Please, don't come.
MICHAEL KOSTA (VOICEOVER): It's not just cool guys in scarves
that are being victimized in this conflict,
but also local small business owners
who resemble Sam Elliott.
Right now, the only people that are going into the water
are individuals from the press that want to see
how ugly it is out there.
The governor of Texas is here disrupting your job.
And you want to deport him.
Get him out, because, I mean, I'm
expected to follow federal law, local law, state law.
I would expect the same thing from our leader of our state.
MICHAEL KOSTA (VOICEOVER): Sam Elliott and his mustache's
concerns were justified, because when America sends
its people to Eagle Pass, they're
not always sending their best.
Some, I assume, drove countless hours to sit outside a fence.
But why?
This is my land.
I'm from Texas.
I'm here to support those people who are fighting
for me, my life, my land.
Do we have guts enough to defend ourselves?
Do we?
Now you're shaking your head.
You don't really-- - I'm not.
You're skeptical.
You're wearing a suit, and you've been successful
in the New York media.
You know what?
You sold your soul to the devil.
If I sold my soul to the devil
to be successful in news media, I would be more successful.
I wouldn't be sitting here in Eagle Pass, Texas.
You think I want to stay at a Marriott Town Plaza
with no body lotion?
That sounds like something the devil would say.
MICHAEL KOSTA (VOICEOVER): Yes, Dan's fashion critique hurt.
And his outlook was very confrontational.
So I decided to talk to the chairwoman of the county
Republican Party for a more measured view.
So we've had this invasion.
And it's really turned this town upside-down.
You mean from Governor Abbott,
from the 13 out-of-state Republican governors,
news media such as myself.
No, I'm talking about the illegals, the wetbacks.
And-- oh, I'm sorry.
What did you call them? - Wetbacks.
Wetbacks, man, I haven't heard
that word in a long time.
MICHAEL KOSTA (VOICEOVER): OK, now that she's
gotten that out of her system, I was ready for a more
nuanced conversation.
We just want them to come legally
through the front door.
Calling them wetbacks, to me, is not a, we welcome you here.
I want them to come legally.
That's what I want so they aren't wetbacks,
so they don't have to swim the river.
They wouldn't be wetbacks if they didn't.
MICHAEL KOSTA (VOICEOVER): Obviously, there's
some disagreement about whether we should let people
from other countries seek refuge here
and whether we should refer to them
with vintage racist slurs.
But has militarizing the border actually
worked to keep anyone out?
I asked Magali Urbina, whose pecan
farm borders the Rio Grande.
I asked them to, several times,
please, don't put the wire up.
We don't want it.
It's a liability.
And they just came in, and they put it up anyhow.
Do you think the fencing and the buoys and the razor wire--
do you feel like that's working?
No, no, not at all.
The governor is just pushing them out to New Mexico
to Arizona to California.
But guess what?
They're still coming in.
MICHAEL KOSTA (VOICEOVER): So if they haven't solved
the migrant crisis, could there be another purpose
for the thousands of state guards, miles of barbed wire,
and throngs of sunburned politicians in Eagle Pass?
I would have to say it has to do with the fact
that it's an election year.
A narrative is being told that creates
chaos, scares people.
It's what's going to win them the election.
Do you think this issue at the border
has a lot to do with Donald Trump's re-election?
Yes.
You do?
Trump is concerned about the welfare of the people,
me, this country.
He's not worried about trying to look good
so that he can get elected.
A guy with a golden toilet and a spray tan
isn't worried about looking good?
[LAUGHTER]
It's a political stunt, the Republican pendejos
who don't give a damn.
I minored in Spanish, but I forgot pendejos.
It means politicians?
Well, it's kind of a heavier word than idiots.
- Mother [BLEEP]? - Uh--
Not as heavy?
Not as heavy as mother [BLEEP],, but heavier
than idiots, stupid.
Somewhere between mother [BLEEP] and idiot.
I would say so.
MICHAEL KOSTA (VOICEOVER): As I've come to understand,
the border is a complex issue that
affects people's real lives.
It's so much more than a photo op.
But before I left town, there was
one more thing for me to do.
[CHEERING]