McAllen (United States) (AFP) - In the Texan border town of McAllen, with an 80 percent Latino population, there was one overriding issue on the minds of voters as they cast their midterm election ballots on Tuesday.
"Immigration is not a democratic problem, it's not a Republican problem, it's an American problem, and it's gonna take both parties to sit down and really talk about it and come to a solution," said retiree Tony Jalomo, 57, an early morning arrival at his local polling precinct.
Yet Republicans have seized hard on the flood of migrants coming across the Mexican border as a fruitful issue to hammer Democrats, and early signs are showing they may be having success.
Surrounding Hidalgo County was until recently a Democratic bastion.In the 2020 presidential election, three-fifths of voters here cast ballots for Democrats.But McAllen now has a Republican mayor -- the first elected Republican mayor in a century.
The city of 140,000 residents is feeling the stress of the migrant influx, and some Latino residents are sympathetic to Republican demands for a harsher approach to undocumented migration.
Between October 1, 2021 and August 31, 2022 agents from Customs and Border Protection have detained 2.5 million people.
"The immigration system is broken...There's no need for immigration checkpoints, international bridges, embassies, consulates.They come across the Rio Grande...in a silent invasion," said Francisco Cabral, a 71-year-old American of Mexican heritage.
Cabral, a Republican, said he is tired of tax dollars used to assist migrants, saying those dollars should go to public security, healthcare and other services for citizens.
"One of the main problems right now is the human trafficking here in the border," Carlos Fantini, 38, a car salesman, said outside a polling precinct.
But Fantini said the migrants eventually will contribute to the country: "They're gonna work.They're gonna pay taxes."
'Do things correctly'
Enrique Ayala, a 64-year-old retiree, said he wishes for a lessening of the polarization in the country.
"My expectation is that everybody acts civilized, that...all the parties accept their winnings and defeats and that we all act as a country," Ayala said.
Not far from McAllen, one can see sections of the border wall built during former president Donald Trump's administration.The Trump-era wall is 30-feet (nine meters) tall and aimed at blocking those seeking a stealthy entry to the United States.
But these days, the border wall is no deterrent to thousands of migrants who walk across the McAllen-Hidalgo-Reynosa International Bridge and turn themselves in to US authorities demanding political asylum.Many are Venezuelans, Haitians, Cubans and Central Americans.
Romelia Hinojosa, 64, who has resided in McAllen for more than two decades, said she favors clear rules for such migrants.
"As a human being, we all have opportunities and if there is an opportunity to come (here) to improve the quality of life because they can't do so in their home country, well, welcome," Hinojosa said.
Then she added: "As long as they do things correctly."
