Washington Crossing the Rio Grande
AT THE MIDPOINT OF LAREDO’S JUÁREZ-Lincoln International Bridge, where the usual snarled lines of traffic were conspicuously absent, was a red carpet. Separated by a vacant concrete expanse about the length of a soccer field, dignitaries from two countries milled about, waiting. On the northern side, a retired customs broker portrayed America’s first president, decked out in a navy frock coat and tricorn hat, his long gray hair tied back in a ponytail. He jockeyed for position next to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, resplendently attired in a bright red dress and matching heels. “Happy birthday!” Pelosi joked as the media scrambled for the anachronistic photo-op.
Across the way, a military band struck up Mexico’s national anthem. A tricolor flag, seemingly as long and broad as the bridge itself, was run up a hilltop flagpole. Then the scene was replicated on the U.S. side. A Border Patrol sergeant imbued “The Star-Spangled Banner” with a country twang, and a similarly huge flag arose above a gleaming new customs inspection facility. Texas Secretary of State David Whitley, then embroiled in a voter-suppression scandal targeting new citizens, delivered a keynote address. “Today, we celebrate more than just the pioneer of American democracy,” he proclaimed, before dusting off his high school Spanish. “We celebrate the coming together of one community en un abrazo.”
Two fair-haired, school-age children from Laredo, dressed in colonial attire and carrying miniature American flags, walked tentatively forward to the carpet. They were met there by a boy and girl of similar age from Nuevo Laredo, outfitted in multihued traditional costumes and bearing
