this is "nightline." >> tonight, living on the edge. american border towns suddenly militarized. residents caught up in a political showdown. the so-called caravan called an invasion by the president, inspiring some to take up patrol. >> this is the united states. it belongs to us. >> and others to lend a helping hand. >> they're not coming to hurt us. they're coming for a better life. plus amanda bynes. the child star turned teen idol. >> it's such fun. >> was all that and a can of hairspray. ♪ you can't stop the river >> when her rising star imploded in a shocking public breakdown. now opening up about her out-of-control drug use, the movie role she says drove her over the edge, and her personal road to recovery.

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good evening. and tonight we take you to an american border town, where in recent weeks locals have found themselves surrounded by military and at the center of a debate about how to handle the migrant crisis right on their doorstep. here's abc's matt gutman.

>> big piece of equipment. there's probably six or seven vehicles, sir. >> reporter: far from washington off a dirt road near an auto parts supplier. >> brownsville point of entry. and we're moving to an area that's been identified by the cbp that could benefit from some hardening. >> reporter: this is the front lines in the debate over border security. we're embedded with the u.s. military in brownsville, texas, just steps from the port of entry to mexico. >> we're hanging concertina wire, sir, to make sure the border is more secure. >> how does this assignment differ from other ones you've had in the past? >> usually, you know, forces go out and deploy and we're overseas. but this is home turf. >> reporter: about 5,900 troops have been deployed to the southern border in advance of what's being called the caravan. thousands of central american migrants seeking asylum in the u.s. >> i don't care what the fake

media says. that's an invasion of our country. >> reporter: we traveled here to brownsville, texas, to see if the fear and rhetoric out of the white house matched the experience on the ground. >> we've become a political football is what's really happened. >> when you hear of a group of 2,000 or 1,000 people, that seems like a lot of people. >> they're not coming to hurt us. they're coming for a better life. >> reporter: just this weekend, after months of rising tension over the caravan moving north, chaos erupting in another border town. tijuana. just south of san diego. several hundred central american migrants protesting at the border. at first clashing with mexican police in riot gear, then skirting those pickup trucks at barriers right into the maze of canals near the san ysidro border terminal. dozens of them trying to breach the border fence. behind those coils of concertina wire, heavily armed u.s. border patrol agents unleashing a wall of tear gas.

many hundreds beating a frantic retreat. among those engulfed, mothers clutching children. this weekend's violence coming with maria mesa fleeing honduras with five children. this weekend's violence coming after repeated threats by president trump to close the border with mexico. the president has repeatedly called the migrants a threat and a national emergency. >> and they've got a lot of rough people in those caravans. they are not angels. they are not. >> take your camera, go into the middle. >> reporter: so we did. taking our cameras right inside that caravan. what we found were many desperate families. women like blanca who i met marching with her three children. for blanca there is a serious concern that the gangs who killed her husband are going to

come back for her family and the rest of them. but as this group made its way north and just weeks before the midterm election, the administration deployed those troops. 1,000 of them, right here in brownsville. >> bring it this way. >> reporter: unsettling many here in the community. >> excuse me. >> this militarization of our section of the border has been going on the past number of years but ramped up precisely under the new administration. >> reporter: mike seifert has lived in this area for nearly 30 years. >> they've been practicing riot control on the bridge. we never see that. and then you have barbed concertina wire laid out all over the place. it looks like we're at war. >> reporter: and it's not just military here. emboldened in part by president trump's sharp tone on immigration, some have taken it upon themselves to help protect the border. >> hey, how are you doing? >> all right. how are you? >> i'm jake. so what are you up to? >> just checking out different areas. >> yeah? >> because we're running out of time.

the caravan's almost here. >> reporter: shannon mcgauley is the founder of the texas minutemen, a militia group he says observes and reports to law enforcement and border patrol. >> tell me about where we are right now and is this a vulnerable area? >> yes. there's an eight-mile stretch here to the ocean that's not really patrolled very well at all. and from what i talked to the locals, they say a lot of activity happens at night, in reference to drugs. >> reporter: he says up to 150 volunteers from across the country are heading to meet him with atvs, thermal imaging, and armed with weapons. >> will your team be armed? >> it's texas. >> so yes? >> it's texas. >> when people say they've seen the caravan, it's a lot of women and children, people desperately fleeing their countries because of violence there -- >> it's a trojan horse. >> explain that. >> there are people hiding within the women and children. besides, if you're a real

mother, you wouldn't put your kids facing razor wire. this is the united states. it belongs to us. >> i don't need defense from people who are partly dehydrated and who have their 3-year-old on their shoulders and who are probably sick and in shock from what violence they're fleeing. i don't need to be protected from them. >> reporter: alissa filippone is a texas native who has lived and worked in brownsville for the last 17 years. to her the rhetoric out of washington is just that. words. not her reality. >> they're coming for a better life. a place with running water. a place where they don't have to fear the police. a place where when their daughter gets raped they can actually seek some justice. a place where their son doesn't get kidnapped to join a cartel. these are some medicines, ibuprofen and so forth, that was

donated. >> reporter: she's part of a local group of residents who responded to the migrant crisis by volunteering their time, providing aid and assistance to asylum seekers. >> it's also about that. about restoring a little bit of dignity. >> reporter: a few blocks away we meet sergio cordova and mike benavides, two other brownsville locals. >> we were walking around this area just thinking why don't we start a kitchen there and be able to feed? >> reporter: inside is another brownsville volunteer, brendan tucker. >> now, i like buying things in mexico. >> reporter: making meals for migrants stuck at the mexican side of the border. >> what have we got here? >> this is honey garlic chicken, bacon potatoes, and we've got zucchini with corn and french style green beans. we've got 27 people on the new bridge and 8 on the old bridge. so i cooked 40 pounds of chicken. if there's any extras. always better to make more than not enough. it's a pretty good system. it's getting more organized every day. >> is that it?

we don't have anything else to take? >> it feels so light. we took everything yesterday. >> we are with sergio and his team. they have the dinner packed up. and then we are currently crossing over from brownsville over to mexico via the port of entry. >> reporter: this small tent city has become a temporary home for migrants waiting to cross at a legal port of entry to claim asylum. about 20 people are at this bridge placed on a waiting list of sorts. only a handful allowed through each day. part of a series of changes that some say encourage illegal crossings and is meant to deter people from seeking asylum. >> i've lived here all my life. so i've never seen people living on the bridge, ever. so this is something new within this year. >> just knowing these asylum seekers are being received the way they should be, being

received in an american way, with open arms. that's what america's all about. it always has been. >> the range extends all the way to the river. >> reporter: but for another brownsville resident, gilbert garza, it's not so black and white. >> when you have 1,000 people trying to come into any area, it's definitely something that will raise up eyebrows or concerns on what's going to happen. >> reporter: garza manages a gun range here in town and says his clientele is divided on the issue of immigration. >> are you glad the military's here? >> yeah. i mean, anytime you have some kind of uniformed officer in any environment, it always makes for somewhat of a more peaceful resolution. >> reporter: while he believes securing our border is important, he understands why people want to come here. >> the united states is the best country in the world. we already know that. that's why we're here. we want productive people in society to come to the united states. as long as they go through the right channels, i'm not opposed to people like that at all.

>> buenos diaz. >> reporter: and when we met back one sergio and mike they took us to meet some of the people who left everything behind to come here for a better life. greeting newcomers released from a detention center station who were legally waiting to have their asylum claims heard. >> the bus dropped them off here. as they come in we ask if they have confirmation numbers for the bus and then we'll line them up here. i served in the army for eight years. i went to desert storm. if i believe in something i defend it, i go for it. i believe in america. i always have. >> reporter: and to mike and sergio, welcoming those in need is the american way. >> you're coming from honduras, some groups. right now they're getting a phone call. they don't have their confirmation number to get a bus ticket. so they're just making contact. >> reporter: wilmer told us he fled honduras with his pregnant wife after several of his relatives were killed by gangs. and he himself receives death threats.

as he told us his story, the weight of it all seeming to overwhelm. >> lo siento. >> this is a crisis. it's an international crisis. and it's happening in our backyard. i'm giving all that i have to it. next here, "hairspray" star amanda bynes dropping bombshells about her personal life. i wanted more from my copd medicine... ...that's why i've got the power of 1-2-3 medicines with trelegy. the only fda-approved 3-in-1 copd treatment. ♪ trelegy. the power of 1-2-3 ♪ trelegy 1-2-3 trelegy with trelegy and the power of 1-2-3, i'm breathing better. trelegy works 3 ways to... ...open airways,... ...keep them open... ...and reduce inflammation... ...for 24 hours of better breathing. trelegy won't replace a rescue inhaler for sudden breathing problems. trelegy is not for asthma. tell your doctor if you have a heart condition

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almost four years sober and ready to step into the spotlight again beginning with some intimate confessions. here's abc's will reeve. >> hiccups are gone. >> reporter: she was the squeaky clean bubbly star of nickelodeon's "all that." >> adios, sucker. >> reporter: she shined in blockbusters like "she's the man" and "hairspray." ♪ 'cause the world keeps spinning round and round ♪ ♪ and my heart is at the speed of sound ♪ and even starred in her own sketch comedy series "the amanda show." >>y me's amanda and welcome to my show! >> reporter: but at the height of her career amanda bynes endured a sudden public fall from grace. marked by erratic behavior and bizarre outbursts on social media. now after several years out of the spotlight the 32-year-old former child star is opening up to "paper" magazine revealing in the latest issue the truth behind those dark years of what she says was drug abuse.

saying, "it was like an alien had literally invaded my body." her drug-fueled descent from the top, a storyline so familiar in young hollywood. bynes says she began using marijuana recreationally at age 16, then progressed to molly, ecstasy, even experimenting with cocaine use. >> when you talk about recreational use of marijuana in the adolescent age group, we know that their brain is very vulnerable. exposure to any illicit substance can have very serious consequences both short term and long term. >> reporter: but her substance of choice became adderall, an amphetamine often used to treat attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. ♪ now i've tasted chocolate and i'm never going back ♪ >> reporter: bynes says she learned about adderall when she was starring in "hairspray," her abuse of the drug so intense that she says she would chew the pills, saying "because she thought they made her more high

that way." >> the recreational use or abuse of adderall or any other , xiy,xi weight loss, rapid heart rate, the list goes on and on and on. >> she really attributes some of what happened and changes in her behavior and personality to the drug usage as it escalated and became, you know, a much more serious issue. >> hey. what's up? i'm sebastian. >> reporter: after seeing herself in the romantic comedy "she's the man," a role in which she plays a teenage girl pretending to be a boy, she says, "i went into a deep depression for four to six months because i didn't like how i looked when i was a boy." >> i'm not the one you have to answer to for your depraved behavior. there's a higher power that will judge you for your indecency. >> tom cruise. >> reporter: and after her work in "easy a" the actress telling the magazine, "i saw it and i was convinced that i should

never be on camera again and i officially retired on twitter." buyshe reg i saying "it was rea d i see that now. i was young and stupid." she then went into a hollywood and says she fell into a dark hole. >> she was really open and raw about how that time was not a happy period and was a very dark sad place for her. >> reporter: her downward spiral starting in 2012, making headlines for all the wrong reasons. a series of driving violations, disturbing tweets, even a hospitalization under a psychiatric hold. after starting a fire in a neighbor's driveway an eyewitness describing the unusual scene. >> i saw this girl laying down right here with her left pant leg on fire. when i look at her, that's amanda bynes. >> reporter: that incident coming on the heels of another out-of-control episode involving allegations she tossed a marijuana bong out of her 36th floor manhattan apartment right

in front of police officers. she was arrested. her now infamous mugshot exploding on social media. she appeared at court disheveled. >> are you planning on staying? in manhattan? >> yes. >> reporter: at one point wearing a blight blue wig. >> why do you think child stars often struggle with addiction? >> when you remove a child from the normal course of their social and psychological development, it's not too surprising that there can be negative consequences. >> reporter: bynes says she has now been sober for almost four years and is ready to get back into acting, telling "paper" magazine she's not afraid of the future saying, "i've been through the worst and came out the other end and survived it. it's only up from here." >> this is sort of her wanting to tell her story, kind of close a chapter that was difficult, move on and start the next phase of her life and career. >> reporter: how important is it for celebrities to publicly share their stories of

addiction? >> celebrities do have a massive platform that can be very powerful in a positive way. but at times where they're sharing their own personal crisis their primary concern should be themselves. >> reporter: for "nightline" i'm will reeve in new york. next here, caught in an e-mail scandal of her own. we ask ivanka trump what makes her different than hillary clinton. ♪ little girl and boy land ♪ while you dwell within it ♪ you are ever happy there daddy, it's christmas! ♪ childhoods, joyland never let go of your dreams. the mercedes-benz winter event is back.

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finally tonight, a look ahead to our abc news exclusive interview with first daughter and senior adviser to the president, ivanka trump. >> i have to ask you about your e-mails. your father had taken hillary clinton to task for this. >> there just is no equivalency. >> so the idea of lock her up doesn't apply to you? >> no. >> ivanka trump excluse. >> how concerned are you about the mueller investigation? >> i'm not. >> are you worried for your father and your husband and your brothers?

>> we'll have much more from that "nightline." that's our show for tonight. remember, though, if you can't stay up with us you can watch full episodes of "nightline" thanks again for watching and good night.