Trump Supporter Reportedly Stunned as Surging Immigration Crackdown Squeezes His Private Business

Trump supporter David Reyna says President Donald Trump's immigration crackdown has 'completely devastating' consequences for his construction-related businesses in Texas's Rio Grande Valley, as arrests in South Texas have jumped from about 400 in 2024 to more than 9,000 so far in 2026, The Washington Post reports.

The 50-year-old backed Trump in 2024, expecting lower living costs, tax cuts and a more secure border. 'We didn't think this administration was going to crack down on undocumented workers that hard,' he told the newspaper.

Immigration Crackdown Leaves Building Work Stalled

Reyna runs a lumber yard and a real estate operation, both of which have slowed sharply. A home he was building has remained unfinished for months, and he described the enforcement push as 'completely devastating the local construction industry.'

He had personally seen migrants crossing near his gated ranch and knew Trump had promised mass deportations. What he had not anticipated was enforcement extending to people without criminal records. 'The borders were wide open' under Joe Biden, Reyna recalled, 'and we saw what that meant firsthand.'

Trump campaigned on immigration enforcement in 2024, promising the 'largest deportation' effort in US history. He has defended the crackdown by arguing that undocumented immigration drives down wages for American workers.

Reyna disputes the economic benefit locally, reporting that Americans are not filling the vacancies and that wages remain low.

Arrest Figures Behind the Immigration Crackdown

The Washington Post's analysis put ICE arrests in South Texas at about 400 in 2024 and more than 9,000 so far in 2026. Nearly 80 per cent of those arrested by the agency's Harlingen field office had no criminal records.

Its analysis of federal data recorded a 5 per cent fall in construction payrolls in the Brownsville–Harlingen area from a year earlier. Cameron County's labour force had shrunk by nearly 2 per cent. 'It's easy to see a lot of jobsites aren't moving the way they normally do,' Reyna observed.

The Daily Beast also reported construction delays caused by worker shortages. Shrimping operations along the Gulf Coast are under pressure, while restrictions on commercial driver's licences for some immigrants have added to strains in the trucking industry.

Immigration Crackdown Tests Republican Support

Reyna was among the Latino voters who supported Trump's 2024 victory in the traditionally Democratic Rio Grande Valley. Ahead of the November midterms, polling points to dissatisfaction among parts of that electorate.

A Cook Political Report–TelevisaUnivision poll found that more than one-fifth of Hispanic Trump voters in Texas would not back a generic Republican House candidate. Nearly two-thirds of Hispanic voters reported that Trump's deportation policies would make them less likely to support a candidate.

A separate Associated Press–KFF survey questioned more than 2,000 rural voters, a group that largely backed Trump in 2024. Four in 10 believed Trump had 'gone too far' in restricting legal immigration or deporting immigrants living in the US without authorisation.

In Georgia, farmer Laura Leigh Taylor, 37, told the Associated Press she regretted voting for Trump after enforcement reached people she knew.

'I understand getting rid of the rapists and the murderers,' she told the agency. 'But all the people that fell in between that really weren't doing nothing but taking care of their family.' Reyna predicted a political reversal in the valley. 'The whole valley was red,' he stated, 'and now it's going to be blue.'