San Antonio Express News

John MacCormack
Express-News

MARFA — When the U.S. government closed a half-dozen informal West Texas border crossings eight months after 9-11, the ostensible aim was increased national security.

Little thought was apparently given to the hundreds of Mexican villagers in Boquillas del Carmen, Santa Elena and Paso Lajitas, who suddenly found themselves economically and socially cut off from American tourists and neighbors.

And, as the title of a new documentary, "Mexiphobia," implies, many in the Big Bend region believe the closures were based on irrational fears and have only degraded national border security.