Trump’s Return Could Push Texas Into ‘Uncharted Territory’ on Immigration

Former President Donald Trump’s victory in the presidential election is threatening to drastically change immigration policies in the border states, however, Texas could be the state that feels the most impact.

Trump heavily focused his campaign on arguing that immigrants are causing crime rates to go up and that, at the same time, are stealing Americans’ jobs. He promised to end birthright citizenship, deport millions of people through raids and detainment camps, and revive stricter asylum policies.

After Trump’s first term ended in 2021, Gov. Greg Abbott vowed to continue the fight against migration. He began implementing stricter border policies, such as the deployment of state troopers at the border, building a border wall, and busing migrants to northern cities led by Democrats. All these policies were paid with state money under Operation Lone Star, which has cost $11 billion.

“The people who are in charge of bringing people across the border illegally are the drug cartels. The drug cartels haven’t closed out business, they haven’t gone away,” Abbott said in May. “We cannot relent in our security of the border.”

A second Trump term could reinforce Abbott’s policies.

“When I’m president, instead of trying to send Texas a restraining order, I will send them reinforcements,” Trump said. “Instead of fighting border states, I will use every resource tool and authority of the U.S. president to defend the United States of America from this horrible invasion that is taking place right now.”

According to The Texas Tribune, this could bring drastic changes in the state, where more than 5 million immigrants live. About 40% of all employees in construction and workers in oil, gas and mining industries are immigrants, according to research papers published by the American Immigration Council.

“We are in uncharted territory,” said Cesar Espinosa, the executive director of FIEL, an organization that offers social and legal services to immigrant families in Houston.

“The impact that it could have on Texas could be monumental,” said Espinosa. “This could devastate a lot of industries here in Texas.”

While it is still unclear how Trump will enforce his new policies or if he will keep his promise to deport as many as 20 million people he’s said are undocumented, Espinosa said he is working with families to prepare them for the worst.

“We tell people that this is kind of like having a plan for a fire:
You don’t know if a fire is gonna happen, you can’t predict when a fire’s happening, but you have a plan on how to exit,” he said.