Texas Hispanics swung hard to Trump. A new poll shows they’re furious at his deportations.

Benny Melendez voted for President Donald Trump in 2024. But since Trump returned to the White House, it has become increasingly difficult for Melendez to manage his small construction company in South Texas. He said immigration officers detained workers at their workplaces and while driving company trucks. More than 10 of these workers have been deported since the beginning of 2025.

The chaos of the past year and a half convinced Melendez to abandon her support for Trump and Republicans and instead support Democratic State Rep. James Talarico in this year’s U.S. Senate elections.

“How can we continue to vote for someone who targets our community?” Melendez said: “There’s no way we can support this. No way.”

Melendez is not alone. One in five Hispanic business owners in Texas say they deported an employee in the past year, according to a new study commissioned by the U.S. Hispanic Business Council. First shared with POLITICO. Seven in ten people said their businesses were affected by Trump’s tariffs. Among those surveyed, Talarico holds a seven-point lead over GOP nominee Attorney General Ken Paxton; but the majority of the more than 1,000 respondents identify as Republicans. Nearly a quarter of those who supported Sen. John Cornyn in the Republican primaries now say they will support Talarico, while more than half say they will support Paxton.

The poll is the clearest sign yet of Paxton’s vulnerability among Texas’ powerful Hispanic business community, amid broader signs that Hispanic voters across the country are faring poorly. rocking hard against him.Thanks to the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and the shaky economy. The survey was conducted June 2-15 and included 1,012 USHBC members based in Texas. Participants included business owners in construction, food services, retail, manufacturing and other industries.

As to why they turned to Trump and Talarico, these business owners highlighted the fear the deportation push created in society as well as their own consequences.

“The fear factor that it creates, the disruption that it creates, the environment that it creates is debilitating,” said Javier Palomarez, USHBC president and CEO. “If you have a small business of 10 or so people and you deport even one person, you can imagine how that would affect the morale of the business unit and the fear of the business owner.”

Meanwhile, Paxton, who has long taken a radical stance on immigration, doubled down on the issue: declares his support for a controversial Texas immigration law and I’m suing to stop it publicly funded legal defense for undocumented immigrants

The Texas Senate race will be one of the most watched and expensive races in the country this cycle. Early polls show the situation is at an impasse: A New York Times/Siena poll The one released last month showed Paxton and Talarico fighting to a draw. Among Spanish voters, Talarico is ahead by 32 points. in 2024 Trump wins over Texas Latinos By 10 points.

Paxton spokeswoman Madison Cercy said in a statement that Hispanic voters want “lower taxes, fewer regulations, affordable energy and a strong economy.”

“Ken Paxton has a proven track record of fighting for these priorities, while James Talarico consistently opposes tax-cut policies that help Texans thrive, declares ‘God is non-binary’ and says there are ‘six biological sexes,'” Cercy said. he said. “Texans deserve to hear the truth about Talarico’s radical record and the damage his agenda will do to families and businesses in our state. When they do that, Talacreepo’s campaign for votes will be over.”

In his statement, Talarico extended an olive branch to Hispanic voters: “We must support Hispanic small businesses, not crush them under the weight of high costs and failed immigration policies,” he said. “My message to Hispanic communities in Texas is this: If you feel deceived, if you feel let down by both political parties, if you feel politicians are doing nothing to lower your costs or fix this broken immigration system, you have a place in this campaign.”

Business owners in South Texas say immigration enforcement is the primary reason they lean toward the GOP. In 2024, Trump rode concerns about former President Joe Biden’s border policy to victory in predominantly Latino communities along the U.S.-Mexico border; this was a major shift in the historically deep blue region. Trump won 14 of those 18 border districts. Starr CountyIt’s a 90 percent Latino county that Hillary Clinton won with 79 percent of the vote in 2016 and hasn’t appealed to Republicans since the 1890s.

However, many people now think that the Trump administration’s domestic sanctions policy has gone too far. 70 percent of USHBC survey respondents have a negative view of labor force immigration raids and its impact on families and businesses Republicans are at risk of kneeling running in the same border areas.

“I don’t like what Biden is doing here at the border,” Melendez said. “But now with Trump it’s the opposite, there’s a 180-degree change. He doesn’t let us work. He takes the best we have.”

Earlier this year, construction managers in South Texas raised alarms about immigration enforcement. Some chamber of commerce leaders He met with officials in the White House and Congress See you in February to discuss concerns.

Immigration enforcement at construction sites has decreased for several months, managers said. However, activity picked up again last month. Melendez says immigration officers are now regrouping workers at construction sites and pulling over vehicles with work equipment such as ladders. The Department of Homeland Security did not immediately respond to a request for comment on this characterization of the practice.

“It seems now more than ever that if you’re brown, they’re going to stop you,” said Mario Guerrero, who voted for Trump three times and leads the South Texas Builders Association. “And I know that sounds really racist, but that’s what we’re facing, man.”

Stories about immigration crackdowns across the state occupy local media: An undocumented man in Houston shot and killed by an ICE officer; A mariachi musician was detained in San Antonio after playing at the birthday party; A Catholic nun in McAllen He was detained while walking to Sunday Mass.

Even some Republican officials condemned this activity. “As I have said repeatedly, our immigration enforcement must target violent criminals,” said GOP Rep. Monica de la Cruz. battlefield zone In the Rio Grande Valley, he wrote on Facebook. “A Catholic nun who goes to church is not a threat to our society.”

The arrest of the nun, who was all over the local news last month, was the “final nail in the coffin” for many Hispanics in the community who vote Republican, said a South Texas construction company owner who agreed to remain anonymous to speak publicly.

The construction manager stated that most of the Hispanic people in the region are Catholic and said, “We are angry with the current administration. Everyone in South Texas is angry.” “Remember, we’re conservative, we’re not too far to the left. We’re in the middle, conservative Latinos in South Texas. This doesn’t make sense.”

Guerrero, who leads a trade group with more than 160 members in South Texas, said the idea that deportations would create jobs for American workers is misinformation. “People say, ‘Why don’t you hire American citizens to do foundation or concrete work?’ “I said, ‘Dude, tell me which fucking US citizen would want to pour concrete into the valley in 103-degree heat,'” Guerrero said.

Palomarez echoed that sentiment.

“The idea that these immigrants are taking jobs in America is nonsense,” Palomarez said. “Districts that leaned Republican in South Texas are paying the price because this fear-mongering is now ingrained. And now you don’t have the employees or enough employees to make this project happen.”