With its motto "Where Yee-Hah meets Ole," Eagle Pass is a border town that prides itself on being both Tex and Mex, a community with many cultural and financial ties that bind it to its sister city across the Rio Grande.

But the U.S. government's proposal to build a giant fence along the border threatens to remake the landscape in the name of national security, undermining the relationship between the two cities and, some say, permanently scarring the riverfront.

Local leaders and residents who are fighting the fence have become increasingly frustrated with what they regard as the federal government's heavy-handed tactics, which include threatening letters, lawsuits and swift legal judgments.

"They come in here like stormtroopers," Mayor Chad Foster said. "They are steamrolling the people and abusing our liberties and are absolutely out of control."