This story is part of a collaboration with the Associated Press and FRONTLINE, the PBS series, through its Local Journalism Initiative, which is funded by the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation.
EAGLE PASS — As a mariachi band played their final number, several kids lined up near a public park along the Rio Grande to whack an orange piñata. It was made to look like the floating barrier that Texas officials put in the middle of the river nearby — a string of orange buoys separated by saw blades meant to deter migrants from crossing the border.
