Politics
Border Enforcement Drives Voter Sentiment Shift in Texas Rio Grande Valley
In the Rio Grande Valley of Texas, border enforcement has become a central issue influencing voter attitudes ahead of the November 3 midterm election. Community organizers and residents in Brownsville, a city on the U.S.–Mexico border, reflected on the impact of immigration policies during a Dia de los Muertos vigil that honored victims of state violence, including those killed in immigration enforcement and detention.
Mark Anthony Vasquez, a 52‑year‑old community organizer, said the region feels a lack of due process in ICE detentions and raids. "What is it that we can do to move together and build together to try to make it past this, and make that change that we seek?", he asked.
At a bookstore panel on border and immigration policy, 24‑year‑old Juliana Garcia asked how to find a lawyer who could navigate the shifting policies of President Donald Trump’s administration, which has increased physical enforcement and reinterpreted administrative rules to fuel a mass deportation campaign. Garcia’s aunt, a well‑known community member in Progreso, was deported after missing a DHS hearing and signing a voluntary deportation form. "Within 36 hours, she was deported," Garcia told Al Jazeera.
The Rio Grande Valley, home to about 1.5 million residents, has seen a rise in border crossings during President Joe Biden’s term, partly due to the end of a COVID‑era policy that required asylum seekers to wait for their cases to be processed in Mexico. The influx has contributed to discontent that helped President Trump win the region in the 2024 presidential election. In Hidalgo County, where McAllen is located, Trump received 51 percent of the vote in 2024, a three‑point margin over Kamala Harris. In 2020, Biden had won the county by 17 percentage points. In neighboring Cameron County, Trump won by about five percentage points in 2024, after losing by 13 points in 2020.
Voter Jose Arizpe, a 40‑year‑old Brownsville resident, described the last two years as a "positive change" with fewer asylum seekers waiting in the U.S. for case processing. He noted that Trump declared a state of emergency at the border and that the Supreme Court has ruled that border agents can physically block asylum seekers from reaching U.S. soil.
Other voters expressed frustration with Trump’s enforcement approach. Martin Torres, 55, said domestic enforcement and its impact on the local workforce soured his views. A Caminos Institute report estimates the region has lost $180.6 million in economic activity due to the administration’s immigration policies, affecting construction and restaurants.
Rights groups cited a Supreme Court decision that lifted a lower‑court order preventing immigration officials from considering race or ethnicity, effectively allowing racial profiling. In Texas, a state law permits local officials to stop individuals suspected of illegal entry. George Castorena, 46, a department of education worker, said he saw a lot of discrimination.
The midterm elections could offer incremental change. Democratic control of the House could limit further immigration enforcement funding and open investigations into the administration’s approach. Control of the Senate, potentially decided by the Texas race between Republican Ken Paxton and Democrat James Talarico, could increase leverage. A change in the governor’s office could end Governor Greg Abbott’s use of state agencies to support federal enforcement, though a Democrat would face a Republican‑dominated legislature.
A poll by the American Civil Liberties Union of Texas found only 34 percent of respondents in the area felt that local and state immigration enforcement made their communities safer, while 53 percent said it made their lives harder without improving safety. Sixty‑four percent felt ICE tactics had gone too far. The poll aligns with congressional races in the Rio Grande Valley, where Democratic challengers Bobby Pulido and Vicente Gonzalez lead Republican incumbents.
Policy strategist Osvaldo Grimaldo of the ACLU said the survey shows border residents are not aligned with what they voted for in 2024. Even prominent community figures who support Trump’s policies acknowledge a broader shift. Eli Lara, lead pastor at New Life Family Church in McAllen, said locals are dismayed by the administration’s targeting of undocumented individuals and the separation of families.
Voter Garcia, a volunteer with the Hidalgo County Young Democrats, believes the current situation could galvanize the region. She cited incidents such as the assault of a 17‑year‑old by immigration agents in Alamo and the fatal ICE shooting of Lorenzo Salgado Araujo in Houston in July 2026. "I’ve had a lot of people tell me, ‘Why do I care about politics? Politics doesn’t affect me,'" she said. "And with all of these ICE raids, they realise politics does affect them, and it sucks that it took a lot of trauma to really bring that to people."