Trump's Return to Power: How the 2024 Election Reshaped Texas Policy and Latino Communities

By Jenifer C

The 2024 presidential race was one of the pivots in the politics of both the state of Texas and the fast-growing Latino demographic. The election of Donald Trump not only won the White House but also the tsunami of policy changes on the state level that took place immediately, which impacted both the immigrant population and Latino business owners of the Lone Star State and the political representation on a significant scale. But, considering that Rio Grande Valley was the core of the immigration policy promoted by the administration, the consequences have been transferred to the Dallas-Fort Worth metropolitan regions.

The decisive way in which Trump has performed against the backdrop of the Texas electorate featured a remarkable turnaround in Latino endorsement. Based on exit polls that the Texas Tribune examined, Trump won 55 percent of Latino voters in the state and won 14 out of 18 counties within 20 miles of the border- twice his result in these Latino-dominated areas in 2020 (Scherer et al., 2024). This political restructuring gave state Republican leadership groups fresh strength to push conservative policy-making projects forward.

When the Trump administration came into office, it acted fast in relation to immigration enforcement. The first days of his term saw the president issue executive orders terminating access to the CBP One app, which had enabled legal migrants to enter the country, halting the refugee system, and increasing collaboration between Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and local law enforcement organizations (Texas Tribune, 2025). The Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton was among the first to strike a deal with the administration to facilitate immigrant enforcement, with Governor Greg Abbott allowing the National Guard to arrest immigrants along the border- powers that were initially forbidden (Texas Tribune, 2025).

The economic impact has been enormous. According to reports by immigration lawyers and community activists, the fear has permeated the immigrant communities and even extended to other countries not targeted directly by the new travel guidelines (Nogueras Ramos et al., 2025). In late November, the federal order prohibited individuals from 19 countries, such as Venezuela, Cuba, and Afghanistan, from requesting green cards and citizenship, which caused what some experts call a new wave of panic and instability in Texas (Nogueras Ramos et al., 2025).

The effect on the economy is broader than industries in Texas, which are largely reliant on immigrant workers. Research by the American Immigration Council has shown that immigrants comprise about 18% of the population in Texas, yet constitute 40% of all workers in the construction sector and a large percentage of employees in the oil and gas industries and the mining sector (Serrano, 2024). In a survey by the Pew Research Center in October 2025, 68 percent of Latinos said that the state of U.S. Hispanics was worse than it was a year ago, the first time that a majority said so in close to 20 years of polling. Also, 78 percent think the policies of the Trump administration are hurting Hispanics in general (Pew Research Center, 2025).

Pro-immigration advocacy group FWD.us has advised that Texas will be the first line of assault on immigrants because the state closely aligns with federal enforcement priorities (Martinez et al., 2024). With the policies of the administration still playing out, Latino communities of Texas are having to negotiate an ever more uncertain ground, where the political benefits of recent years are now actively challenged by both state and federal powers.

References

Martinez, A., Garcia, B., & Serrano, A. (2024, December 18). Trump's promise of mass deportation throws undocumented Texans into fear, uncertainty. The Texas Tribune. https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/18/texas-undocumented-immigrants-mass-deportations-trump/

Nogueras Ramos, C., Huff, J., & DeGuzman, C. (2025, December 16). Trump immigration policy upends lives of Texas migrants. The Texas Tribune. https://www.texastribune.org/2025/12/16/texas-immigrants-trump-administration-halts-applications/

Pew Research Center. (2025, November 24). Most Latinos disapprove of Trump and policies on immigration, economy in second term. Pew Research Center. https://www.pewresearch.org/race-and-ethnicity/2025/11/24/majorities-of-latinos-disapprove-of-trump-and-his-policies-on-immigration-economy/

Scherer, J., Despart, Z., Garcia, B., Trevizo, P., & Keemahill, D. (2024, November 6). Trump's near sweep of Texas border counties shows a shift to the right for Latino voters. The Texas Tribune. https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/06/donald-trump-near-sweep-texas-border-counties/

Serrano, A. (2024, November 7). "Uncharted territory": Trump's anti-immigration plans could take center stage in Texas. The Texas Tribune. https://www.texastribune.org/2024/11/07/texas-trump-immigration-agenda-border-mass-deportations/

Texas Tribune. (2025, February 7). Donald Trump's immigration executive orders: Tracking the most impactful changes. The Texas Tribune. https://www.texastribune.org/2025/02/07/donald-trump-immigration-executive-orders/