Share this @internewscast.com

QUEMADO, Texas — Trump 2024 flags flew alongside Christian flags as a throng of people converged on a rural Texas ranch to denounce the president and the people who have crossed into the United States from the nearby Rio Grande.

Many of those who arrived at the border town of Quemado on Friday for the “Take Our Border Back” rally said they were convening as Christians who stand against lawlessness and were doing so peacefully. The musical performers, vendors, political signs and colorful clothing on the rally grounds contrasted with the razor wire, camouflage uniforms and weaponry stationed 20 miles south at the section of border in Eagle Pass.

The group arrived at about 8 p.m. Friday local time and merged onto a two-lane rural road, creating a long queue of mostly personal or rented cars and recreational vehicles.

They were led by a man on horseback waving the Christian flag — a white banner with a blue square and red cross in its upper left corner — three commercial trucks and a few buses, inching one by one through the only open entrance onto the grounds.

The convoy was first billed as 700,000 trucks that would head from Virginia to three points on the border, but that didn’t materialize.

However, people joined along the way in Texas, driving passenger cars, recreational vehicles and trucks towing campers. When they arrived on Texas’ border, organizers said the convoy numbered around 200. NBC News was unable to independently verify that number, but observed at least 100 vehicles.

Dorothy Richards, 67, a retiree from New Braunfels, had attended a leg of the convoy’s rally in Dripping Springs, Texas, near Austin, but arrived before the convoy. The Take Our Border Back organizers held their Dripping Springs event at a whiskey distillery, where Richards said free mugs of beer were handed out.

She carried a Texas flag Friday, but then swapped that out for a sign supporting Texas Gov. Greg Abbott in his face-off with President Joe Biden over immigration. “Biden had his chance,” she said.

“Governor Abbott & TX NG [National Guard] SECURE THE BORDER,” Richards’ sign read.

The Biden administration and Abbott have clashed over enforcement of immigration laws as Abbott has been sending immigrants allowed to await hearings in the U.S. to Democratic-led cities and has been operating his own border enforcement. Abbott is using the Texas National Guard and state police to apprehend people crossing into the United States illegally and to erect razor wire along the border. Border Patrol agents have said some of the actions are keeping them from doing their jobs.

Richards said the clash over immigration could bring civil war, but she saw it as necessary. “What are we going to do? Should we stand back and let it [illegal immigration] happen?” she asked.

The event could have easily been a Trump rally with flags, MAGA hats and even a cardboard Trump. Some took it further with a hearse with “Trump 2024” on the front door and “collecting Democrat votes one dead stiff at a time” written in all-capital letters on the rear.

Alma Arredondo-Lynch, 67, of Concan, Texas, wore a rhinestone “Women For Trump” brooch and wide-brimmed hat as she walked the ranch’s grounds. Friday evening’s rain and lightning had been pushed aside by a bright sun and warm temperatures on Saturday.

“I believe that if we don’t have a border, we don’t have sovereignty. And if we don’t have sovereignty, we aren’t going to have civility,” she said. Drug cartels own and operate the border, she said.

Like several others, she said she was not against people coming to the border, but said they should arrive legally.

The rally was largely calm with the exception of some clashes with a handful of demonstrators who said they belong to the group Street Preachers. They began protesting late Friday with a bullhorn, but were forced by the convoy and rally organizers to move across the street. They held anti-LGBTQ and Islamophobic signs.

The organizers used their own bullhorn to separate themselves from the protesters and to tell rallygoers they didn’t agree with the protesters’ views.

But some rallygoers didn’t distance themselves from anti-immigration rhetoric used by Abbott, Trump and others, which has raised alarms. Trump has said immigrants are “poisoning the blood of our country.” Abbott drew some backlash when he said that the state was not shooting people who cross the border illegally because then Biden would charge state officials with “murder.”

Abbott was planning to host several Republican governors in Eagle Pass on Sunday for a news conference on immigration and the border.

Asked about Trump’s anti-immigrant rhetoric, Scotty Clay of Alpena, Arkansas, who would not give his age, said, “Trump sometimes stirs the pot … just to get the rouse out of the media.”

“We are at war within our own country. It’s on our southern border,” he said.

Doug Pagitt, a pastor and the executive director of Vote Common Good, was at the ranch and in Eagle Pass over the weekend, too, to counter the claims that conservative and far-right groups constitute the “army of God” — as rally organizers have described themselves — and to support faith leaders who do not agree with them or Abbott.

“When we hear people like this trucker brigade say that they are the army of God and they’re espousing things that sound like Christian nationalist ideas, that puts a target on places like Eagle Pass,” Pagitt said, referring to what he said was the belief that Christianity is the default religion for the nation and is what makes the U.S. great.

“A lot of people are here to say that the governor shouldn’t listen to federal law. That sounds a little bit like an insurrection,” he said.

The convoy may be peaceful, he said, but attracts other groups that want to cause violence. He said he and other faith leaders were advised by Eagle Pass police against holding an outdoor hot dog cook-off and a prayer walk at Shelby Park on Sunday because the police could not guarantee their safety.

Standing across from the ranch entrance Friday afternoon, onlooker Marco Castillo, 29, of Eagle Pass, said the rallygoers should have been in the area in December, when crossings were more numerous.

“What is all of this for? For show,” he said, adding that he’d seen Dr. Phil’s helicopter in the skies. “Show.”

He sees no need for Abbott’s enforcement operation, dubbed Operation Lone Star, to be in Eagle Pass, “because look what they brought,” he said.

Share this @internewscast.com
You May Also Like
2026 midterms: US Senate candidate Raja Krishnamoorthi releases 1st TV ad of campaign ahead of Democratic primary election

Raja Krishnamoorthi Unveils First TV Ad for 2026 US Senate Bid Ahead of Democratic Primary

CHICAGO (WLS) — The first television ad has hit the airway in…
Small plane crashes into Florida neighborhood

Dramatic Footage: Home Security Camera Captures Small Plane Crash in Florida

A small plane crash in Florida was captured in a dramatic home…
NYC comedian Ray DeJon dead days before he was supposed to hold birthday roast at his Brooklyn club

NYC Comedian Ray DeJon Passes Away Just Days Before Scheduled Birthday Roast at His Brooklyn Club

Comedian Ray DeJon has died just days before he was set to…
Handout photo of Vance Luther Boelter in custody.

Minnesota ‘assassin’ Vance Boelter’s eerie admission in FBI letter during indictment for murder of Democratic politician

The gunman accused of the murder of a Democratic politician and her…
President Trump speaking to reporters.

Trump Advises Zelensky Against Targeting Moscow After Discussing How to Impact Putin

DONALD Trump has advised Volodymyr Zelensky against using US-made missiles to attack…
Emma Watson at the Elton John AIDS Foundation's Academy Awards Viewing Party.

Emma Watson, Known for Her Role in Harry Potter, Loses Driving Privileges After Fourth Speeding Violation in Two Years

HARRY Potter star Emma Watson has been banned from driving for six…
Pentagon ends deployment of 2,000 National Guard troops in LA

Pentagon Withdraws 2,000 National Guard Troops from Los Angeles Deployment

Roughly 4,000 National Guard soldiers and 700 Marines have been in the…
ICE ramps up detention without bond hearings

ICE Increases Detentions Without Offering Bond Hearings

Todd Lyons, the acting director of ICE, informed employees on July 8…
TikTok influencer's husband faces possible felony charge after son's tragic pool accident

Husband of TikTok Influencer May Face Felony Charge Following Son’s Tragic Pool Accident

Brady Kiser, husband of social media personality Emilie Kiser, might be facing…
Georgia Police Department in Mourning After Beloved K-9 Dies in Tragic Way

Georgia Police Department Grieves Loss of Beloved K-9 in Heartbreaking Incident

In a statement released on Facebook by the Dade County Sheriff’s office…
Fire crews along Grand Canyon are trying to save cabins after loss of historic lodge

Firefighters Strive to Preserve Cabins Near Grand Canyon Following Historic Lodge Loss

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. (AP) — On Tuesday, firefighting crews worked…
No link found between aluminum in vaccines and autism: Study

Study Finds No Connection Between Aluminum in Vaccines and Autism

(NewsNation) — A new study out of Denmark challenges claims that aluminum…