Texas GOP – As border crossings have fallen since Trump’s crackdown began, Texas Republicans are finding their once-unifying immigration message harder to sell. With immigration sliding down voters’ priority lists and GOP candidates split between hardline deportation and
Two years ago. as illegal border crossings surged. Texas Republicans marched in step—railing against the Biden administration’s immigration policies and promising. if given power. to seal the U.S.-Mexico border while backing Donald Trump’s pledged mass deportations.. Now the party’s internal unity is fraying.
Republicans are increasingly forced to defend a crackdown that has helped stop most border crossings. even as that very shift has pushed the issue down for many voters.. At the same time. the political attention has moved toward deportations inside the country—an effort that has carried a heavy human toll. with the deaths of at least three Americans and the deportations of thousands of people with no criminal record.
Even among longtime immigration hawks. the tone has sometimes cooled after backlash tied to killings by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and other federal agents.. In a rare critique of the White House’s response, U.S.. Sen.. Ted Cruz urged a more measured approach, while Gov.. Greg Abbott said after one ICE shooting. “In general. we need to have respect for law enforcement officers in the country. ” adding that “They. being the White House. need to recalibrate on what needs to be done to make sure that respect is going to be re-instilled.”
Back in Washington, Republicans are also wrestling with what immigration policy they want to champion.. With their control described as tenuous and their majorities thin. GOP conversations have turned messy—particularly among candidates facing competitive races.. Some have endorsed immigration reform that would let undocumented residents secure temporary legal status. while others have pushed for a hard line.
The tension is not just rhetorical.. If the party can no longer reliably tie immigration to immediate border chaos. the midterms could become a test of whether the message still lands.. Chuck Rocha. a Democratic strategist who has worked in Texas politics for decades. put the blame directly on Republicans’ strategy. saying. “They could have made this into something very politically tenable if they would have just closed the border. as they did. and just talked about how much safer they’ve made Texas. whether it was or it was not.”
For Texas Republican leaders, the effort is still to reframe what happened at the border as an achievable political victory.. Abbott. who spearheaded the state’s multibillion-dollar border crackdown during the Biden administration. ran a digital ad earlier this year contrasting his Operation Lone Star initiative with Democratic presidential candidates in 2019 who said they wanted to provide coverage to undocumented immigrants as part of their healthcare plans.
The stakes, though, are tied to shifting public priorities.. As of April 2024. when the Biden administration was still struggling to contain illegal border crossings. 68% of Republican voters said immigration or border security was the state’s most important problem. according to a survey conducted by the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin.. Forty-four percent of independents agreed.. But the momentum has narrowed: last month. only 20% of Republicans and 8% of independents shared that view in a poll from the same group—described as the lowest measured by the UT pollsters across more than a decade of statewide surveys.
Inflation and the economy moved to the top of Texans’ concerns, collectively eclipsing immigration among Republicans. Democrats, meanwhile, have not landed on a cohesive immigration message of their own, even as Republicans still hold an advantage in voters’ eyes.
That advantage is also getting complicated by how the crackdown has played out inside Texas.. The argument Texas Republicans often make—that the state is safer because it has acted—leans on outcomes and partnerships.. Police departments and sheriffs across Texas have signed up to work with ICE more than in any other state. and records from the agency show extensive cooperation.. Steinhauser. a Republican strategist who has worked in national and Texas politics. said the border crisis “pretty much stopped. ” and framed the difference as a product of Texas being a border state and avoiding incidents and violence seen elsewhere.
But the case for Texas safe-guarding is not the only story voters hear.. Texas leads the nation in ICE arrests and the number of people detained in immigration facilities. and the crackdown has also disrupted “lives and businesses. ” according to the reporting.. Republicans are now navigating a political landscape where their most consistent issue may no longer carry the same weight.
With public opinion shifting, some voters are also souring on the president’s crackdown. The article cites polling showing that independents and Latinos are “sour[ing]” on the crackdown, and notes that the issue is now not as dominant as it once was heading into November’s midterms.
Some of the numbers underscore how much the debate is concentrated around trust.. In 2024. Biden’s job approval on immigration was more than 30 points underwater in Texas. while 53% of voters said they trusted Trump to do a better job on the issue. compared to 36% for Democrat Kamala Harris.. In the Texas Politics Project’s April survey. Trump held net positive job approval on immigration—48% to 43%—but the split is sharper inside the approval language: more respondents said they “disapprove strongly” than those who said they “approve strongly.” The same polling found that just 27% of independents gave Trump positive marks on immigration. versus 56% who voiced disapproval.
Latino support—crucial for any Texas path to winning—has also been a central factor in the party’s calculations.. The article notes that in 2024. a rightward shift in Latino voting. particularly in South Texas. helped Trump carry the state by nearly 14 points.. That sets the stage for where GOP candidates may drift—and why their internal divisions are likely to show up again as campaigns try to keep those voters within reach.
One example is Rep.. Monica De La Cruz. an Edinburg Republican who is described as the only Republican from the state to support a bipartisan immigration reform bill.. The bill would create a seven-year pathway to legal status—explicitly described as not citizenship—for people who have lived in the country since 2020 and can pass a criminal background check.. The measure also called the Dignity Act, named in the reporting, would be introduced by Florida Rep.. Maria Elvira Salazar and El Paso Democratic Rep.. Veronica Escobar.
The Dignity Act would also fund more border personnel and surveillance. increase penalties for illegal crossings. and require employers to eventually use E-Verify. the electronic service that checks employees’ immigration status.. De La Cruz. preparing to defend a highly competitive Hispanic-majority border district in November. previously pitched a special visa for immigrants to work in construction as well.
Yet her approach has not gained broad traction among her Republican colleagues.. State Rep.. John Lujan. a San Antonio Republican running for Congress against De La Cruz’s brother. rejected the Dignity Act. saying. “I oppose amnesty for any individuals who have broken our immigration laws.” In North Texas. U.S.. Rep.. Brandon Gill of Flower Mound also condemned the legislation as a route to “mass amnesty. ” arguing it “would constitute a terrible betrayal of our voters.”
The contradictions are sharpest because Texas Republicans are using immigration battles to win—while still needing voters to accept the consequences of success.. Republicans have signaled they still see the issue as an ace in the hole. including Abbott’s contrast ads and the broader push to frame the federal crackdown as protection for Texas.
Democrats, for their part, appear to find a clearer target: Trump and his administration’s aggressive ICE tactics.. In Texas. the reporting describes the immigration crackdown as playing out more discreetly than in other states where cities with Democratic leaders saw surges of ICE officers and clashes with residents.
The friction between parties has also spilled into state and local policy.. When Democratic leaders of various cities in the state tried to set guardrails around how police departments work with ICE. Abbott threatened to slash thousands of dollars of public safety grants slated for those cities.. Attorney General Ken Paxton opened investigations into whether the local officials had violated state law that prohibits “sanctuary cities. ” where police can’t work with ICE.. The article says all of the cities reversed course.
For all the movement. the key question heading toward November’s midterms is whether immigration can regain political potency—especially if voters keep shifting toward inflation and the economy.. The report frames the coming campaign as a test not just of border outcomes. but of whether Republicans can unify their pitch around a changing reality.
The pattern is also hard to miss: Republicans built their message around a surge at the border two years ago. then defended a crackdown as crossings fell. and now face a political reset as immigration deaths and internal deportations keep the issue contentious while polls show fewer Texans ranking it as their top priority.
Texas Republicans immigration policy border security ICE deportations Operation Lone Star Abbott Ken Paxton Ted Cruz Dignity Act E-Verify midterms 2026