EAGLE PASS, Texas — A smile spread over the face of Yoima Paisan-Viltre, a Cuban migrant, after passage over the emerald waters of the Rio Grande and through release by U.S. border guards. A bandana with the red-white-and-blue of the U.S. flag held her curly black hair.
“I can hardly believe it. I have arrived,” she squealed.
Arrival was in a small border town of 29,000 on the Rio Grande that’s morphed into one of the biggest venues for attempted entry into the United States. Paisan-Viltre was one of the lucky migrants. This thinly populated Texas border region is the top route in for Cubans.