Trump And Texas’ New Democrat Governor Are Headed For War Over The Border

The midterms did more than change which party will control Congress for the next year. By electing Gina Hinojosa governor, Texas voters ended a decade-long partnership between Austin and Washington on the border and set the state on a collision course with the Trump administration over immigration enforcement.

President Trump said Thursday that he will step in if Texas’ incoming Democratic administration abandons the state’s role in border enforcement. A reporter put the question to him directly in the Oval Office.

“Are you ready to reinforce the Texas southern border now that democratic, the new democratic governor is removing state manpower from border defense?” the reporter asked.

“I am sure that the new governor is going to want to have security of this Texas border,” Trump said. “There were people on television two days ago saying how it’s like living in heaven compared to living in hell when Biden was there. And I’m sure they’ll continue my policy. And if they don’t continue my policy, I will.“

Democrats in Texas also captured the attorney general’s office and flipped the Texas House, giving the party control over the levers that have made Texas the federal government’s most important state partner on immigration. Republicans held the Texas Senate.

Gov. Greg Abbott (R-TX) launched Operation Lone Star and committed substantial state resources to border security, including border barriers, additional law enforcement deployments, immigration detention capacity, and transporting migrants to Democratic-led cities. The Trump administration adopted several of Abbott’s strategies and has relied on Texas for substantial help with enforcement. Texas maintains more extensive state and local cooperation with federal immigration authorities than any other state.

Despite its success, Hinojosa has dismissed Operation Lone Star as “political theatre” and insists it is an expensive waste of taxpayer money. She has already made it clear she intends to review the operation’s budget and may scale back or dismantle portions of it.

The National Guard gives her another lever. About 1,400 Guard members from 17 states currently support the Department of Homeland Security and Immigration and Customs Enforcement with logistical, transportation, and administrative work. Governors retain control over their states’ Guard personnel, which would allow Hinojosa to pull Texas troops out of the federal mission.

Trump allies say losing Texas’ cooperation would seriously undermine federal enforcement, particularly during another border crisis. White House advisers, including Stephen Miller, the architect of the administration’s enforcement policy and Trump’s new chief of staff, are expected to press Austin to keep working with federal authorities. Concern has also reached agents in the field.

“I fear that now Texas will bar any law enforcement working with us like they do in California,” one Border Patrol agent told the Washington Examiner last week.

The attorney general’s office is the second pressure point. Incoming Attorney General Nathan Johnson (D-TX) plans to review agreements between Texas law enforcement agencies and ICE and has questioned the federal 287(g) program, which lets state and local police assist with immigration enforcement.

César Cuauhtémoc García Hernández, an immigration attorney from the Rio Grande Valley and a law professor at Ohio State University, said Johnson’s win carries as much weight as Hinojosa’s.

“Ken Paxton has been at the forefront of working hand-in-hand with Republican leaders of other states, and more recently with the Trump administration, to make Texas the model of harsh immigration policies,” he said.

Local governments have already moved. Houston Mayor John Whitmire limited cooperation between city police and ICE during traffic stops, citing community trust and public safety. The change came after an ICE officer fatally shot Lorenzo Salgado Araujo, a Mexican construction worker, in July.

Opponents of immigration enforcement clearly see the midterm elections in Texas as a referendum on Trump’s immigration policies.

“We have had enough, get ICE out of our communities,” said Osvaldo Grimaldo, policy strategist on border and immigrants’ rights at the ACLU of Texas, describing what he called the message from voters “along the border and throughout the state.”

Edna Yang, co-executive director of the Austin-based group American Gateways, said she sees the results as a reaction to anger after “witnessing the cruelty towards immigrants that has been going on for the last two or so years.”

Democrats claim they intend to keep the border secure, and will only end practices they consider excessive. Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-TX) said Hinojosa could reshape how enforcement operates in the state. Advocates expect changes but say they will take time, and Rochelle Garza of the Texas Civil Rights Project urged Democrats to act on their win. “And frankly, if it’s not seized upon, it can be lost,” she said.

But despite the Democrats’ victories, there are limits on what can be done, especially since Republicans still control the state Senate.

Kristin Etter, director of policy and legal services at the Texas Immigration Law Council, outlined the limits on the new administration.

“Obviously, a new state governor can’t rewrite immigration laws, but Texas can make a difference in terms of the choices they make about how it uses its state resources,” she said.

State law stands as the largest obstacle to any pivot. A measure Abbott signed last year requires sheriffs in the 234 Texas counties that run jails to enter agreements with ICE allowing their officers to assist federal enforcement, and most counties have complied. With Republicans controlling the Senate, Democrats lack the votes to repeal it.

The Department of Homeland Security has not said whether its operations in Texas will change. “It’s too soon to tell,” a DHS official told CNN.