ICE crackdown prompts some Texas Latinos to turn away from Trump

McAllen, Texas — Benny Melendez, the owner of a small construction company along this stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border, says he's been forced to take drastic measures to protect his immigrant workers.

"If I don't install fences, ICE is going to come into my property and take my workers away," Melendez said as he showed CBS News the fencing he's set up at one of the several construction sites he manages in South Texas.

Melendez says the fencing is designed to prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from arresting his workers, and to require them to have judicial warrants before entering his job sites.

Local officials say construction is one of the industries hardest hit by President Trump's sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration. Construction company owners like Melendez say they're struggling to find workers, with some having been detained by ICE and many scared of showing up to work and getting arrested. Building a home, he said, is now taking his team a year due to manpower issues — up from an average of four months before the Trump administration's crackdown began.

"We're blessed that we have two workers today," Melendez said.

The South Texas resident, who voted for Mr. Trump in 2024 after supporting President Biden in 2020, said ICE operations have also made him rethink his vote.

"I regret my vote for Biden. Now I regret my vote for Trump," Melendez said. "What other options do we got? They're not working for us, neither party."

Melendez's disillusionment is emblematic of broader concerns among some Latino voters — including some who voted for Mr. Trump in 2024 — who believe his mass deportation crackdown has gone too far. A recent CBS News poll found nearly 60% of Latinos believe the Trump administration has deported more people than they expected.

Democrats are hoping those concerns will help them in key races in the midterm elections in November, as they try to retake control of Congress. That bet will be put to the test in Texas, where Mr. Trump and Republicans saw huge gains among Latinos in 2024, especially in communities along the southern border directly affected by the migration crisis there under the Biden administration.

Democratic state representative James Talarico and Ken Paxton, Texas' Republican attorney general, are in a hotly contested race for an open Senate seat. In Texas' 15th congressional district, Tejano singer Bobby Pulido, a Democrat, is hoping to unseat Republican Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz.

Javier Villalobos, the Republican mayor of McAllen, the largest city in that congressional district, warned that his party is now at risk of losing some of the gains it made in Latino border communities. He called concerns about ICE's crackdown the No. 1 issue among his constituents.

"Inflation, the economy, everything is important. But what hits you immediately, what hits personally is the crackdown, when you see the ICE agents, masked, and pulling people out of vehicles," Villalobos told CBS News. "It is not a good picture."

Villalobos noted that local residents supported efforts to bolster border security and deport violent criminals in the U.S. illegally. But he said many now see ICE's deportation campaign as "a crackdown on the Hispanic community," one he believes has instilled fear in his city, including among American citizens.

CBS News has reached out to the White House for a response. Trump administration officials have routinely defended ICE's enforcement efforts, noting the president ran on expanding deportations and cracking down on illegal immigration.

"I particularly don't care about midterms," White House border czar Tom Homan told CBS News earlier this month when asked about criticism of ICE by some Republicans. "My job as a border czar is to keep that border secure and enforce immigration law." 

Jessica Vuittonet, a coffee shop owner in San Benito, roughly a 45-minute drive from McAllen, said she voted for Mr. Trump two years ago, mainly because of her religious views. But she says she now regrets that decision, citing cases of local residents getting detained by ICE.

"I know he was going to start deporting people but not innocent people — not hardworking people," she said.