Diaz: Here’s why Frio County flipped

Frio County, home to Dilley and Pearsall, TX once voted 70% for Obama, and 75% for Hillary Clinton. In 2024 the county favored Trump with 61% of the vote. 

The county is 77% Latino, and 72% of registered voters are Latino. 

So what happened here? 

Well, some of the best paying jobs available in Dilley were from the Immigration Detention Center – and when President Biden shut down that detention center, about 600 people lost jobs there. There is no doubt that this had an impact in the election results there. 

In towns like Dilley, where good economic opportunities are scarce, good paying jobs from ICE detention centers helps them put food on the table and pay the bills. 

But at what cost? 

Danny Diaz

Yes small towns like Dilley deserve better economic opportunities, but these opportunities shouldn’t have to involve the incarceration of immigrants that look like them. It’s cruel that one of the only good paying jobs available are to manage the incarceration and suffering of other Latinos – and to deport them. 

This is a good example of how we Latinos can be systematically divided- and how they get our own people to do the dirty work for them. 

In a more just world, Dilley and Frio County folks would have other economic opportunities that they could be proud of- not just to collect a check – but meaningful jobs that make a positive difference in the world. 

Republicans have figured this out, and have since re-opened the immigrant detention facility in Dilley – and reopened contracts with CoreCivic and GEO Group – companies that privately manage these immigrant detention centers. Making a profit off of the detention and suffering of immigrant brothers and sisters. In the “Big, Ugly Bill” that Trump just signed last month, its adding an additional $250 billion for the Department of Homeland Security, and another $40 billion for private immigrant detention centers to scale their operations in towns like Dilley. 

Across South Texas and border communities, there will be a scaling up of job opportunities attached to the Department of Homeland Security. But we are expecting to see rural hospital closures, massive cuts to Medicaid, cuts to public school funding. The only jobs they want to offer us down here are law enforcement, Border enforcement jobs.

Editor’s Note: The above guest column was penned by Danny Diaz, a political commentator in South Texas. The column first appeared on his social media platforms. It appears in the Rio Grande Guardian with the permission of the author.

Editor’s Note: Danny Diaz recently provided his analysis on a new congressional map for Texas drawn by Republican leaders. Click here to watch a video of his analysis.

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