Eagle Pass, Texas (CNN) Eagle Pass, Texas, is usually a pretty quiet place. But this week, it has turned into an immigration showdown involving hundreds of law enforcement officers and a migrant caravan.

The migrants, about 1,800 of them, are being housed by the Mexican government across the Rio Grande in Piedras Negras.

The Central American immigrants want to come to the United States but US authorities are telling them to stay in Mexico while they wait through the process of seeking asylum.

The migrants began showing up Monday, arriving along the border on more than 50 buses.

In preparation for the migrants' arrivals, the Republican governor of Texas, Greg Abbott, sent 500 officers from the department of public safety to Eagle Pass, according to Mayor Ramsey English Cantu.

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