Jessica Cantu Vuittonet, a South Texas business owner who supported Donald Trump in the 2024 presidential election, says the administration’s immigration crackdown has changed the way she views the president she once backed.
Vuittonet, who operates a coffee shop in San Benito, Texas, told CBS News that she voted for Trump primarily because of her religious beliefs. She knew the Republican candidate had promised an aggressive deportation campaign, but said she believed immigration enforcement would focus mainly on people who had committed serious crimes.
“I know he was going to start deporting people but not innocent people — not hardworking people,” Vuittonet told CBS News.
Her position changed after immigration enforcement directly affected her own family.
Earlier reporting by The New York Times found that Vuittonet’s brother was taken into immigration detention earlier this year, just days after attending a scheduled check-in with immigration authorities. He was later deported. Vuittonet told the newspaper that the experience left her angry and feeling betrayed by a political movement she had previously supported. The detention affected not only her brother, she said, but also his children, grandchildren and other relatives.
Trump made major gains among Latino voters in 2024. Two years later, some of those voters are telling reporters that while they supported tighter border enforcement and the deportation of people convicted of serious crimes, they did not expect immigration operations to reach as deeply into families, workplaces and communities as they say they now have.
Vuittonet is not alone in expressing second thoughts.
CBS News recently interviewed Benny Melendez, the owner of a small construction company near the U.S.-Mexico border who voted for President Joe Biden in 2020 before supporting Trump in 2024.
Melendez said his company has been affected by immigration enforcement because workers have either been detained or have become afraid to report to construction sites.
He has installed fencing around some job sites in an effort to prevent immigration agents from entering without judicial warrants. Melendez told CBS News that labor shortages have dramatically slowed construction: a house that previously took his crews about four months to build can now take roughly a year.
His frustration now extends to both major political parties.
“I regret my vote for Biden. Now I regret my vote for Trump,” Melendez told CBS News, questioning whether either party is addressing the concerns of people in his community.
The economic consequences are particularly visible in construction, an industry local officials say has been heavily affected by immigration enforcement in South Texas. Employers report difficulty finding workers, while some immigrants are staying away from workplaces out of fear of being detained.
The changing attitudes could have political consequences as the United States approaches the November 3 midterm elections.
A CBS News/YouGov survey conducted between September 30 and October 2 found that most Hispanic voters believe the Trump administration is deporting more people than they had expected. The survey also found that Hispanic support for Republican candidates is below the level Trump received from Hispanic voters during the 2024 presidential election.
McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos, a Republican, told CBS News that concerns about ICE operations have become the leading issue among many of his constituents.
Villalobos said many residents supported stronger border security and the deportation of immigrants convicted of violent crimes. But he said the broader enforcement campaign is increasingly being viewed locally as “a crackdown on the Hispanic community.”
He warned that images of masked immigration agents detaining people have created fear even among U.S. citizens and could hurt Republican support in communities that moved toward the party only two years ago.
Immigration becomes an election issue
The shift comes as Texas prepares for several closely watched races, including the U.S. Senate contest between Democratic state Rep. James Talarico and Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton. CBS News has described the race as highly competitive, while Latino voters are expected to play an important role in determining the outcome.
The Trump administration, however, has continued to defend its immigration strategy.
White House border czar Tom Homan told CBS News that political consequences are not his priority.
“I particularly don’t care about midterms,” Homan said, adding that his responsibility is to keep the border secure and enforce immigration law.
Administration officials have repeatedly pointed out that Trump campaigned openly on promises to expand deportations and strengthen immigration enforcement.
But Vuittonet’s experience highlights an important distinction emerging among some of the voters who helped return him to office: supporting deportations in principle has become different from experiencing those policies within their own families and communities.
For Vuittonet, that distinction became clear when her brother entered immigration detention and was eventually deported.
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Source: CBS News
