(NewsNation) — Magali and Hugo Urbina purchased a sprawling pecan orchard in their hometown of Eagle Pass, Texas in 2021, planning to make the property their dream retirement destination without knowing they would soon find themselves at the center of an international crisis.
But three years later, after Eagle Pass became ground zero for the crisis along the U.S.-Mexico border, the couple said that their farm and their lives had become a living hell.
An estimated 1 million immigrants have crossed the border at Eagle Pass and the couple told NewsNation that their property, Heavenly Farms, has become a staging ground for undocumented migrants. Since then, the couple – who were born in Eagle Pass and returned home after purchasing the orchard – said that they have expressed a range of emotions that move between anger, disappointment, and frustration.
“It seemed at the time that both the state of Texas was (moving) in one direction and the federal government and was going in another direction,” Hugo Urbina told NewsNation. “You’re like, we need to work toward a common ground toward fixing the problem. You can’t just have people crossing into the United States illegally that way.”
Magali Urbina agrees and said the couple constantly thought there had to be a better solution rather than seeing seemingly endless lines of immigrants on their orchard waiting to be processed by immigration officials.
The experience caused the couple to reconsider their political loyalties. The Urbinas were part of a movement that shifted Maverick County in its support for President-elect Donald Trump. Magali Urbina said that in 2022, she viewed the migrant crisis from a humanitarian perspective.
But as the flood of undocumented immigrants continued onto their property over the past 2 1/2 years, the couple helped to flip their county for the Republicans in the 2024 election.
“I understand that they’re coming for a better life – most of them are,” she told NewsNation.
Despite her empathy, Magali Urbina said that the lines the couple witnessed on their property included parents with their babies along with teenagers who were often crossing into the United States without supervision.
Despite objections from their friends and family, the couple told NewsNation they voted for Trump in November after saying they saw all they needed to see in their own backyard.
“It was overwhelming,” Magali Urbina said. “It really was.”