Texas border town throws party with Mexican neighbors in the middle of the Rio Grande River

Full Frontal With Samantha Bee correspondent Mike Rubens visited the border town of Lajitas, Texas for the 7th annual Fiesta Protesta. The event takes place along the Rio Grande River, where Americans and Mexicans gather to celebrate their shared community. Before the Lajitas border crossing was closed in 2002, the Mexicans and Americans thought of themselves as a single community. Co-Organizer Jeff Haislip said, “If you've never seen the togetherness, you wouldn't notice the separation. We used to play softball against each other. We were integrated as a community.” One of the attendees described the relationship between the two border towns as “a neighborhood with a river in the middle of it.” Rubens also spoke with two Mexican women who said they grew up attending school in America, and that Americans shopped at their family’s store in Mexico. The current administration's focus on border security has added a new level of concern to people on both sides of the river. One American woman said, “I'm not necessarily pro ‘let everybody come over here,’ but I think that we have gone completely beyond the limits that are necessary for what's going on. These people just want to see their families.” U.S Border Patrol observes the festivities and allows both sides to travel back and forth across the natural border as long as everyone returns to their respective sides of the river when all is said and done. Full Frontal With Samantha Bee airs Wednesdays at 10 p.m. on TBS.