McALLEN, Texas (Border Report) — Migrant advocates have maintained a vigil for almost two weeks near and around Eagle Pass, Texas, protesting the state’s takeover of a public park and boat ramp for border security, and demanding that asylum-seekers be allowed to cross from Mexico.

The grassroots organization, Witness at the Border, has held protests since April 10, including some across the Rio Grande in Piedras Negras, Mexico, from where many migrants try to cross into South Texas.

The group’s leader, Joshua Rubin, told Border Report on Friday morning they saw a group of six, including a small boy and a pregnant woman, who tried to cross into U.S. soil but were turned away by National Guard troops positioned at Shelby Park in Eagle Pass. He said soldiers did not allow the group to pass through heavy concertina wire that has been placed by Texas as part of its Operation Lone Star border security initiative.

“They just just turned them away. So they’re hiking up in the direction of Del Rio, you know, which is probably more than a day’s hike away, to find a spot where there’s no concertina wire so that they can get out. But there’s a little boy, three, three young men, two young women, one of the women looks about seven, eight months pregnant,” Rubin told Border Report.

Rubin said he spoke to the group before they entered the Rio Grande and they told him they were from Ecuador. He said he is among a group of five protesters who on Friday were holding signs on the banks of the Rio Grande in Piedras Negras, Mexico, about 30 yards south of the boat ramp.

“We were talking to them and also the (National) Guard to try to let them in and they wouldn’t do it,” said Rubin, who came from his home in New York City for the two-week vigil.

Abbott has repeatedly said the positioning of Texas Army National Guard and National Guard troops from other states is necessary in Shelby Park to deter migrants from trying to illegally cross into South Texas.

In late January, hundreds of cars and semi trucks joined a miles-long caravan from outside Austin to near Eagle Pass to show their support for Operation Lone Star and to oppose illegal immigration.

Rubin’s group is considerably smaller. On Thursday, he said there were over a dozen protesters. But he said temperatures exceeded 100 degrees and some were suffering from exhaustion and dehydration on Friday.

“It took a lot out of some people,” Rubin said via phone. “We spent the day in the sun. So it was a little rough.”

Video sent to Border Report shows some yelling “Let them cross!” and others yelling “Give back Shelby Park. Go home!”

Some advocates have visited migrant shelters south of the border, and in Eagle Pass, he said.

The current vigil is set to last through Wednesday and Rubin doubts they’ll extend it.

“At this point, there’s no plan to expand it. I don’t think you know, physically we can probably hold out much longer. But we’ll be here at least until Wednesday,” he said.

More information on the group’s plans can be found here.

Sandra Sanchez can be reached at SSanchez@BorderReport.com.