Starr County, Texas, voted Republican this month for the first time in 100 years.
Home to around 75,000 inhabitants of around 1,200 square kilometers, it has a relatively small footprint, all in a state that is praised for its grandeur.
But it is making a huge impression on national politics. Even with the historic flip from blue to red, which is now a century old, it has continued to garner headlines.
Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham stands in front of a new section of the state-funded border wall at a site dedicated to detention centers under the incoming Trump administration in Rio Grande City, Texas, on November 26, 2024.
Gabriel V. Cardenas/Reuters
Last week, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham offered 1,402 acres in Starr County to facilitate the deportation plans of President-elect Donald Trump.
In a Nov. 19 letter to Trump, Buckingham said he is offering land along the Mexican border “to build deportation facilities.”
It has also proposed alternative uses, including as a site for detention centers.
“Now it’s basically farmland, so it’s flat, it’s easy to build on. We can very easily put a detention center there as we get these criminals out of our country,” Buckingham said in a recent interview with Fox. the news
The land Buckingham declared state property in 2023 is in addition to another parcel owned by the Texas General Land Office, which controls up to 4,000 acres of the southern border in Starr County.
ABC News’ Mireya Villarreal visited Starr County to ask residents which issues and values most influenced them to vote for Republican candidates this year, instead of keeping the blue line of the century.
“The economy, I think, is driving everybody crazy,” said Becky Garza, owner of Texas Cafe in Rio Grande City, Starr County’s largest city.
He explained that he used to complain about buying a box of eggs for $10, and now it’s $20.
“If things don’t get better, I might cut staff, cut hours, or start cutting hours and work from there, maybe cut the menu, maybe the menu, you know, keep the place open, you know, because I don’t want to lose my customers,” Garza said.
And he doesn’t think he’s the only one making tough decisions, he told ABC News.
A U.S. Border Patrol agent inspects land along the Rio Grande in Starr County, Texas, as part of a federal call for the U.S.-Mexico border.
Sgt. Mark Otte/Texas Military Department via AP
Jaime Escobar, the mayor of neighboring Roma, another Starr County city, agrees. He suggested that residents have a greater influence on the local economy than what is said in Washington, DC
“We no longer want to be considered just a poor community because we are culturally rich,” he told ABC News. “We are proud of our Mexican-American heritage, but we don’t, we don’t want to be dependent on the government anymore.”
But by inviting DC into their backyard, it should bring the issue of migration and deportation to the forefront, even for those who haven’t made the issue a priority this election cycle.
Asked how people might respond to a nearby Starr County detention facility, Escobar said, “People don’t want families torn apart. That’s the last thing we want.”
“But at the same time,” he added, “we hope that Trump and his administration will do the right thing and focus on the criminal element first, and then we’ll see how in the meantime, we’ll see how the policies can be implemented in a better way.”
Participants in the annual Christmas Parade on December 1, 2023, in Rio Grande City, Starr County, Texas, where the majority of residents are Mexican American, and Spanish is the most widely spoken first language.
Andrew Lichtenstein/Corbis via Getty Images
Buckingham, on the other hand, believes that “the people who live down the border really feel abandoned by these open border policies.”
He told ABC News: “They feel that their communities are being directly harmed, both their safety and their prosperity.”
In the same interview with ABC News this week, Buckingham also said he would “absolutely” offer even more of Texas, the way he did Starr County.
“I have 13 million acres. If any of that can be helpful in this process, we’re happy to have that discussion,” Buckingham said.
In an aerial view of the construction site for the state’s protected border wall, Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham holds a press conference, Nov. 26, 2024, in La Casita-Garciasville, Texas.
Michael Gonzalez/Getty Images
Trump has said he would follow through on his mass deportation plans — a key campaign promise — by declaring a national emergency and using “military goods“Deporting immigrants living in the United States without legal authorization.
He backed his commitment to a number of hard-line immigration picks to join his administration, including South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem, former Homeland Security secretary and director. Immigration and Tom Homan as Customs Enforcement “border czar.” Both selections require Senate confirmation.
But with an estimated 11 million people believed to be living in the US without legal immigration status, the promises have raised questions about feasibility and cost.
Removing them can cost billions of dollars a year, according to estimates by the American Immigration Council.
And while Republican-leaning areas of Texas may feel compelled to support the effort, other southern border states, like Arizona and California, already have. they expressed their lack of interest.
Arizona Gov. Katie Hobbs told ABC News Live last week that she would not use state police or the National Guard to help with the mass deportation.
“We will not participate in misguided efforts that harm our communities,” he said.
