Texas Business Owner Blindsided as Trump’s Immigration Crackdown Hits Local Economy
Trump supporter David Reyna sees his Rio Grande Valley lumber and real estate businesses slow due to immigration enforcement.
Michael Vadon/Flickr
David Reyna, a Texas businessman and supporter of President Donald Trump, is facing unexpected challenges as the administration’s aggressive immigration crackdown disrupts his lumber yard and real estate operations in the Rio Grande Valley. Despite Trump’s 2024 campaign promises to secure the border and reduce costs, Reyna’s businesses have slowed significantly due to the removal of undocumented workers, illustrating widening economic impacts in regions that helped flip Texas red in the last presidential election.
Trump’s Immigration Enforcement: Promises and Consequences
President Trump made immigration enforcement a cornerstone of his 2024 campaign, vowing the “largest deportation” effort in U.S. history, border closure, and restrictions on birthright citizenship. These policies have led to a sharp increase in immigration arrests, particularly in South Texas, where ICE arrests rose from about 400 in 2024 to over 9,000 so far in 2026. Nearly 80 percent of those detained by the Harlingen field office had no criminal records, surprising many local residents and business owners who expected enforcement to target only criminals.
Local Businesses Struggle Amid Worker Shortages
Reyna’s lumber yard and real estate projects have slowed dramatically, with a home under construction left unfinished for months. “We didn’t think this administration was going to crack down on undocumented workers that hard,” Reyna told the Washington Post, describing the crackdown as “completely devastating the local construction industry.” Construction payrolls in the Brownsville-Harlingen area have declined 5 percent from a year ago, while Cameron County’s labor force has shrunk nearly 2 percent, according to federal data analyzed by the Washington Post.
The labor shortages extend beyond construction. Industries reliant on immigrant labor, including trucking and shrimping along the Gulf Coast, face increasing pressure from new restrictions, such as tightened commercial driver’s license regulations for some immigrants. Reyna noted that despite claims that enforcement would boost wages for American workers, “Americans are not filling the gaps left behind, and wages remain low.”
Political Fallout in a Key Swing Region
Reyna was among Latino voters who helped turn the Rio Grande Valley—a region historically Democratic since 1896—red in 2024 by supporting Trump’s promises to lower living costs, cut taxes, and secure the border. However, the harsh realities of the immigration crackdown have shifted his perspective. “The borders were wide open under Joe Biden,” Reyna said, “and we saw what that meant firsthand,” but the current enforcement sweep has left him frustrated.
The crackdown is fueling political unease among Hispanic voters in Texas. A Cook Political Report-TelevisaUnivision poll found that over 20 percent of Hispanic Trump voters in Texas would not back a generic Republican House candidate, and nearly two-thirds said Trump’s deportation policies make them less likely to support a candidate. Reyna lamented, “The whole valley was red, and now it’s going to be blue.”
Voices of Discontent from Rural America
Reyna is not alone in his regret. Laura Leigh Taylor, a 37-year-old farmer from Georgia who voted for Trump in 2024, expressed disappointment after seeing the crackdown affect people she knows. “I understand getting rid of the rapists and the murderers,” she told the Associated Press, “But all the people that fell in between that really weren’t doing nothing but taking care of their family.”
A recent Associated Press-KFF survey of rural voters—who largely backed Trump—found four in ten now believe Trump has “gone too far” in restricting legal immigration and deporting unauthorized immigrants living in the U.S., underscoring a growing division within the GOP’s base ahead of the November midterms.
As immigration enforcement continues to reshape local economies and political loyalties, the Trump administration faces mounting challenges to maintain support from voters in key battleground areas like the Rio Grande Valley.
These developments highlight the complex consequences of immigration policy that directly impact the communities and businesses that initially backed the president’s promises.
