News 177K views since yesterday

Trump-voting Texas builder describes cost of ICE arrests

ABC's 7.30 report finds construction delays, struggling market stalls and divided views on immigration enforcement in South Texas.

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ABC News In-depth Story of November 5, 2026Trari Newsroom

Why this story? One of ABC News In-depth's most watched videos since yesterday, with 177,293 views.

Republicans face backlash from Latino voters over ICE arrests in Texas | 7.30

Things we can learn from the video

Press to jump

0:46Democratic supporter Julio Garcia describes feeling betrayed by immigration enforcement targeting undocumented workers.
2:40Builder and Trump voter Mario Guerrero shows arrest footage and says detentions have severely delayed housing projects.
4:45A shopper defends personal responsibility for immigration status, while market vendors describe falling business.
5:58Two brothers recount their father's fatal shooting during an ICE operation and visit his memorial.
8:05Democratic candidate Bobby Pulido challenges the economic promises behind removing undocumented people at a campaign rally.

Mario Guerrero shows phone footage of workers being detained on construction sites. The Texas builder voted for Donald Trump, but tells ABC's 7.30 that immigration arrests have severely delayed his housing projects.

"We're terrorizing the very people that are building our country," he says. Guerrero rejects open borders, yet also rejects the enforcement he is witnessing: "But I think we were all lied to."

Adam Harvey and Richard Mockler's report for ABC News In-depth adds a ground-level account to the congressional election coverage: how immigration policy is being experienced in workplaces, shops and families along the US-Mexico border. It drew roughly 177,000 views since yesterday.

In McAllen, Navy veteran and Democratic supporter Julio Garcia drives with anti-Trump banners on his vehicle. He describes a sense of betrayal over the targeting of undocumented workers. At a flea market, stallholders report a sharp drop in business.

But the interviews do not present Latino voters as a single political bloc. Shopper Teodulo Moreno argues that people who have spent decades in the country without legal status bear responsibility for their situation.

The report also includes a family's account of loss. Two brothers recount their father's fatal shooting during an ICE operation and visit his memorial, bringing the consequences of enforcement beyond the economic concerns heard elsewhere.

The closing campaign scenes feature Bobby Pulido, the Tejano musician running for Congress as a Democrat. At a rally, he challenges the promise that removing undocumented people would improve life for everyone. His team then escorts him away from reporters' questions. These are campaign-period encounters, not interviews explaining the final election result.

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