But the time Mrs Taylor was most scared was when she found 40 kilograms of marijuana under her bougainvillea.

"Lord knows how long it has been there. I called the cops, but then I was worried the cartel might think I'd taken it," she said. "Then, can you believe it, the cop who dealt with it got had up for dealing with the cartel himself. He's in pokey now. People don't realise what's going on down here.

"And it's not just Mexicans coming across. We've had Romanians, people from Africa, Chinese families, you name it. I leave out food and water for them at night because it's the Christian thing to do, but it needs to stop."

Brownsville sits at the easternmost point of the US-Mexico border. It is where Donald Trump's "Great Wall" would start. One might expect residents like Mrs Taylor, who will be voting for Mr Trump on November 8, to be yearning for the wall. But they are not.

"Mr Trump's wall won't work," she said flatly. "However high you build it they'll just get a longer ladder. If he asked me I'd tell him don't waste your time. Use the money for hospitals."