Trump’s first Texas visit after historic Rio Grande Valley win spurs mix of excitement, trepidation

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BROWNSVILLE — Rosa Castañeda wanted a glimpse of President-elect Donald Trump.

The 58-year-old Brownsville resident had voted for him three times.

“I was like ‘I’m going to go because I voted for Trump, I’m going to go to see what I can see,'” Castañeda said in Spanish.

She was one of about two dozen Trump supporters who waited across the street from the Brownsville South Padre Island International Airport –– some sporting their best Trump gear and waving flags with his name on them.

Several drivers moved into the middle lane to stop and take out their phones as Trump’s plane taxied to a stop on the runway, bringing him to the Lone Star State for the first time since his historic win which included a sweep of the four South Texas counties that make up the Rio Grande Valley.

A naturalized citizen from the Mexican city of Matamoros, Castañeda supported Trump because of what she viewed as his family values and his stance on immigration. She thinks immigrants who rely on government support should be deported but also doesn’t think Trump will be as extreme in his crackdown of immigrants as critics on the Democratic side have said.

“He really has a good heart,” Castañeda said.

Trump made historic gains in all four Valley counties –– Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr and Willacy counties –– marking a historic shift for the majority-Hispanic region that was considered a reliable Democratic stronghold.

Starr County, in particular, hadn’t backed a Republican presidential candidate since 1896.

It did not go unnoticed by Trump who specifically referenced the Rio Grande Valley in a post celebrating his victory on his social media site, Truth Social.

“IN THE GREAT STATE OF TEXAS, WON 31 OF 32 STATEWIDE JUDICIAL BENCHES, AND EVERY COUNTY IN THE RIO GRANDE VALLEY,” Trump wrote.

Trump was down in the Valley to witness SpaceX’s sixth test flight of its Starship vehicle. His visit to the launch site at Boca Chica Beach comes amid reports that the company’s founder, Elon Musk, has been a constant presence in Trump’s orbit since the election. Trump also tapped Musk, alongside entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, to co-lead a government-efficiency commission.

The test flight was not quite the commotion that some viewers expected it to be, especially after the fifth test flight last month sent reverberations that were reportedly felt by residents nearly 70 miles away in Hidalgo County.

During that fifth test launch, the company’s Super Heavy booster was successfully caught by the “chopstick” arms of the launch and catch tower at Starbase.

Noise levels from that launch were higher than expected, with data reported by The New York Times suggesting that the peak noise occurred as the first-stage booster returned to the site for self-landing.

That was not the case this time. The company aborted their attempt to catch the booster during Tuesday’s test, though they managed a successful landing of the vehicle in the Indian Ocean.

Armando Sanchez, a 77-year-old Brownsville resident, stood on the muddy banks of the Brownsville Ship Channel, hoping to catch some fish that afternoon.

He fished often in the area but he came to this particular spot that day in hopes of getting a view of the Starship launch.

“There was no bang,” Sanchez said in Spanish as he watched the space vehicle off the ground. The lack of a calamitous explosion surprised him after last month’s launch had shaken his mobile home.

The noise data suggested the launches could affect local structures, communities and the environment. Sanchez was slightly concerned about those effects but believed the benefits of jobs created by SpaceX was worth the risk.

“They know what they’re doing,” Sanchez said.

But his favorable opinion of Musk’s company did not extend to Trump.

A naturalized citizen who gained amnesty under the Reagan administration, Sanchez didn’t view Trump’s immigration policies as logistically sound.

“If you throw those people out, who’s going to work?” Sanchez said. “You don’t see a white man laboring out in the sun. On the other hand, Mexicans, foreigners, people from other countries –– that’s why they come here, to work.”

Trump’s visit and the launch itself drew the ire of a coalition of Rio Grande Valley organizations which condemned the SpaceX launch in a statement Tuesday.

“SpaceX does not help humanity; it’s a sci-fi fantasy for the rich and powerful,” Josette Hinojosa, with South Texas Environmental Justice Network, partly said in a statement. “Elon Musk inviting Trump to watch our low-income community used as a testing site for rocket explosions is a blatant example of white supremacy.”

But when 19-year-old Ernesto Guerra of San Benito watched Starship launch into the sky, he saw an opportunity.

“There’s so much ahead in the future with Elon and what he can probably do,” Guerra said.

He and his siblings brought out beach chairs they planted on the muddy sand to watch the launch. A longtime fan of SpaceX, Guerra is studying to be a welder and hopes to work at the company someday.

Still, this was the first time he had come out to view the launch in person instead of viewing it online.

“I heard the big man Trump was coming,” he said. “It made it all the more interesting.”

Guerra voted for Trump because he liked the actions he took during his first term and hopes he’ll follow through on his campaign promises. The attention that the Valley was now getting signaled to him that people were realizing the area’s potential.

“The Valley’s getting known for its opportunities,’ Guerra said.

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

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