Convenience Big Store: How Republicans are playing defense in South Texas over ICE

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In 2024, a historic number of South Texans turned out to vote for President Donald Trump, driven in part by his promise to reverse President Joe Biden's "disastrous open-border" policies.

But now, ahead of the 2026 midterms, the Trump administration's sweeping deportation crackdown is proving deeply unpopular with those same Latino voters, and threatening to turn what was once the party's strongest issue into one of its biggest liabilities.

Nowhere was that shift on clearer display than in McAllen this week, where the administration detained a pair of nationally acclaimed mariachi-playing teens, then released them amid intense public backlash.

U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, one of South Texas' few Republican members of Congress who won on a border security platform, called the brothers' detention "troubling" and took pains to highlight her role in securing their release.

"We can have safe communities, and we can also have common-sense enforcement policies," she said.

Democrats were quick to criticize her for her prior positions on border security, and for not intervening sooner. State Rep. Terry Canales, an Edinburg Democrat whose district overlaps with De La Cruz's, compared the move to "setting your house on fire, calling the fire department and pretending your not the arsonist (sic)" in a social media post.

Last week, Hispanic voters helped to drive record turnout in Texas' Democratic primary election.

McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos, a Republican who was elected to helm the historically Democrat-led city in 2021, told Hearst Newspapers he is "very concerned."

Read more on how Villalobos and other Republicans are responding in Bayliss Wagner's story here.

Isaac Yu, Politics Reporter

isaac.yu@hearst.com

Who's Up, Who's Down

A daily stock market-style report on key players in Texas politics.

Up: Harris County Jail

The beleaguered system passed a state inspection for the first time in more than 12 months, making the largest jail in the state in compliance with minimum standards, the sheriff's office announced Thursday.

To pass an inspection, Texas jails must meet 26 different standards that include health services, supervision, commissary and the admission and release process. Get the details from Caroline Wilburn here.

Down: Smokable hemp

The Texas Department of State Health Services adopted new rules that effectively ban the sale of smokable hemp and certain extracts by changing how the agency measures delta-9 THC.

The changes will kick in at the end of this month, and advocates say they are preparing legal challenges. More from the Statesman's Faith Bugenhagen here.

Looming over all of this is the federal THC ban, which come November will ban all hemp products, smokable or not, unless Congress reverses its decision.

What do you think? Hit reply and let me know.

What else is going on in Texas

Texas Democratic U.S. Senate hopeful James Talarico addresses supporters at his election night watch party in South Austin Tuesday, March 3, 2026.

Photo by: Mikala Compton, Austin American-Statesman

Abbott, Trump lead the attacks on Senate Democratic hopeful James Talarico

From his stances on gender-affirming care to his statement that "God is nonbinary," Republicans are looking to define James Talarico early in Texas' U.S. Senate race.

Harris County Judge Lina Hidalgo speaks during the Harris County State of the County luncheon in Houston, Friday, Sept. 5, 2025.

Photo by: Kirk Sides, Houston Chronicle

Houston rodeo revokes Lina Hidalgo's ex officio title after show access dispute

She was warned ahead of time she would not be allowed to enter the sold-out dirt area during Tuesday's Megan Moroney concert at NRG Stadium, rodeo officials say.

The sun rises over a petrochemical facility Wednesday, July 27, 2022, along TX-197 in Texas City.

Photo by: Jon Shapley, Houston Chronicle / Staff Photographer

Why industry experts are skeptical of $300B Texas refinery touted by Trump

Trump said the massive Brownsville project would be financed by Reliance Industries, an Indian refining company owned by billionaire Mukesh Ambani.

A technician works at an Amazon Web Services AI data center in October.

Photo by: Amazon Web Services

Inside San Antonio's AI-driven data center boom and what it means for CPS Energy

The city-owned utility is staring down an unprecedented explosion in demand fueled by AI and other large load customers that could quadruple its resource needs.

The beta eVTOLs aircraft, designed for urban mobility. Texas cities, including Houston, were selected by federal transportation agencies as test sites for the flying air taxi.

Photo by: Texas Department of Transportation

It's a bird! It's a… flying taxi! Small autonomous aircraft could soon move from a futuristic concept to Texas skies after federal officials unveiled eight pilot projects this week.

Federal agencies selected TXDOT to participate in a new pilot program to test electric air taxis and other next-generation aircraft. The program was outlined in President Donald Trump's "Unleashing Drone Dominance" executive order and will be tested in Dallas-Fort Worth, Austin, San Antonio, and soon, Houston.

What else I'm reading

Votebeat's Natalia Contreras has been on top of the chaos that unfolded at the polls during the primary last week, reporting today that Dallas Democrats dropped their bid to have late-cast ballots counted after party officials decided the Texas Supreme Court "is no longer a viable forum for seeking a fair and independent application of the law regarding this issue."

1,756 Democratic ballots were in limbo, cast after 7 p.m. after a judge's order to extend voting hours in Dallas County was later blocked by SCOTX. Thousands of voters there and in Williamson County were left confused after local Republicans decided not to use the practice of countywide voting. Read more here.