The New York Times discovers that Hispanic voters in South Texas have some major concerns about illegal immigration

Greg P. | 2:24 PM on March 01, 2022

Ready for a laugh?

The New York Times has discovered that some of the legal immigrants in South Texas aren’t so keen on the massive wave of illegal immigration after all:

For some Hispanic voters in South Texas, Trump-era anti-immigrant rhetoric of being tough on the border hasn't repelled them from the Republican Party or struck them as anti-Hispanic bigotry. Instead, it has drawn them in. https://t.co/gyA1TU6FmJ

— The New York Times (@nytimes) March 1, 2022

Here’s the opener:

BROWNSVILLE, Texas — Mayra Flores, the daughter of Mexican immigrants, has done much of her campaigning in South Texas in Spanish. She has heard one phrase repeatedly from voters as she and other candidates try to become the first Republicans to represent the Rio Grande Valley in Congress.

¿Y nosotros?

And what about us?

“I hear every day that they’re tired — they feel that there is so much attention and help being given to the immigrants,” Ms. Flores said. “The attention’s on all these illegal immigrants, and not on them.”

Grievance politics, it turns out, translates.

Donald J. Trump’s brand of populism has been widely viewed as an appeal to white voters: Republicans around the country continue to exploit the fear that the left is attacking religious values and wants to replace traditional white American culture with nonwhite multiculturalism. But similar grievances have resonated in the Rio Grande Valley in a profound way, driving the Republican Party’s successes in a Democratic stronghold where Hispanics make up more than 90 percent of the population.

Maybe keep calling them “Latinx” voters? Will that help?