McAllen, Texas — Benny Melendez, owner of a small construction company along this stretch of the U.S.-Mexico border, says he has been forced to take drastic measures to protect his immigrant workers.
“If I don’t put up fencing, ICE is going to come on my property and take my workers,” Melendez said as he showed CBS News the fence he installed at one of the many construction sites he manages in South Texas.
Melendez says the fence is designed to prevent U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents from arresting his workers and to require them to have court warrants before entering his job sites.
Local authorities say construction is one of the industries hardest hit by President Trump’s sweeping crackdown on illegal immigration. Construction company owners like Melendez say they are struggling to find workers, with some having been arrested by ICE and many afraid to show up to work and be arrested. Building a house, he said, now takes his team a year due to labor issues — compared to an average of four months before the Trump administration’s crackdown began.
“We are fortunate to have two workers today,” Melendez said.
The South Texas resident, who voted for Mr. Trump in 2024 after supporting President Biden in 2020, said ICE operations also made him rethink his vote.
“I regret my vote for Biden. Now I regret my vote for Trump,” Melendez said. “What other options do we have? They don’t work for us, or for any party.”
CBS News 
Melendez’s disillusionment is emblematic of broader concerns among some Latino voters — including those who voted for Mr. Trump in 2024 — who believe his crackdown on mass deportations has gone too far. A recent CBS News Poll found that nearly 60% of Latinos believe the Trump administration has deported more people than expected.
Democrats hope those concerns will help them in November’s key midterm elections, as they try to regain control of Congress. That bet will be tested in Texas, where Mr. Trump and Republicans have seen huge gains among Latinos in 2024, particularly in communities along the southern border directly hit by the migration crisis under the Biden administration.
Democratic state Rep. James Talarico and Ken Paxton, Texas’ Republican attorney general, are in a hotly contested race for an open Senate seat. In Texas’ 15th Congressional District, Tejano singer Bobby Pulido, a Democrat, is hoping to unseat Republican Congresswoman Monica De La Cruz.
Javier Villalobos, the Republican mayor of McAllen, the largest city in this congressional district, warned that his party now risks losing some of the gains it has made in Latino border communities. He called concerns about the ICE crackdown the number one issue among his constituents.
“Inflation, the economy, everything is important. But what hits you immediately, what hits you personally, is the crackdown, when you see the ICE agents, in masks, taking people out of vehicles,” Villalobos told CBS News. “It’s not a good image.”
Villalobos noted that local residents support efforts to strengthen border security and illegally deport violent criminals to the United States. But he said many now see ICE eviction campaign as “a crackdown on the Hispanic community,” a measure he said has sowed fear in his city, including among American citizens.
CBS News has reached out to the White House for a response. Trump administration officials have regularly defended ICE’s enforcement efforts, emphasizing that the president aims to expand deportations and crack down on illegal immigration.
“I don’t particularly care about the midterm elections,” White House border official Tom Homan told CBS News earlier this month when asked about criticism of ICE by some Republicans. “My job as border czar is to keep this border secure and enforce immigration law.”
Jessica Vuittonet, a cafe owner in San Benito, about a 45-minute drive from McAllen, said she voted for Mr. Trump two years ago, mainly because of his religious views. But she says she now regrets the decision, citing cases of local residents being arrested by ICE.
“I know he was going to start deporting people, but not innocent people, not hard-working people,” she said.
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