MCALLEN, Texas — The mayor of McAllen, Texas says if things stay the way they are, his city will do just fine in 2025.
But Javier Villalobos also admits they’re not 100% sure what will happen under a second Trump Administration, beginning with the President-elect’s promise of mass deportations.
If that plan becomes a reality, and millions are removed from the United States, the mayor says it would have a major impact on the McAllen economy through labor shortages and a loss of tax revenue.
“I’ve always said it, there’s a lot of people that can be very productive and we should try to help them come here and produce for us and assist their families,” Villalobos told us on Inside Texas Politics. “Now, if it’s people that have issues, criminal or otherwise, then we definitely don’t want that. But there’s a lot of people that I know can help us, that can help our economy stay strong.”
Villalobos, who is McAllen’s first Republican mayor in 24 years, says his bigger concern is potential attacks on non-governmental organizations, or NGOs, which often focus on social or humanitarian issues in a community, including helping migrants.
If those NGOs aren’t around to help with immigration services, it will place more of a burden on the city.
The mayor also says President-elect Trump’s threat to impose 25% tariffs on Mexico and Canada unless they do more to stop drugs and illegal immigrants at the border is also concerning.
Villalobos says the McAllen economy post-COVID has been “tremendous” and if imports and exports are reduced in any way, it would harm not only local residents but all Americans.
“The state of Texas did a study of how the traffic flows through the Rio Grande Valley. Within a couple of days, trucks that pass through here are throughout the whole United States. They’re delivering. They’re doing whatever they need to do and come back. So, I know that if things were to slow down, it won’t just slow down the Rio Grande Valley, it will slow down, I think, the whole economy,” he argued.