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BROWNSVILLE — Rosa Castañeda needed a glimpse of President-elect Donald Trump.
The 58-year-old Brownsville resident had voted for him thrice.
“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 mentioned in Spanish.
She was one in all about two dozen Trump supporters who waited throughout the road from the Brownsville South Padre Island Worldwide Airport –– some sporting their greatest Trump gear and waving flags together with his identify on them.
A number of drivers moved into the center lane to cease and take out their telephones as Trump’s airplane taxied to a cease on the runway, bringing him to the Lone Star State for the primary time since his historic win which included a sweep of the 4 South Texas counties that make up the Rio Grande Valley.
A naturalized citizen from the Mexican metropolis of Matamoros, Castañeda supported Trump due to what she considered as his household values and his stance on immigration. She thinks immigrants who depend on authorities help needs to be deported but in addition would not suppose Trump will likely be as excessive in his crackdown of immigrants as critics on the Democratic aspect have mentioned.
“He really has a good heart,” Castañeda mentioned.
Trump made historic positive aspects in all 4 Valley counties –– Hidalgo, Cameron, Starr and Willacy counties –– marking a historic shift for the majority-Hispanic area that was thought of a dependable Democratic stronghold.
A very powerful Texas information,
despatched weekday mornings.
Starr County, particularly, hadn’t backed a Republican presidential candidate since 1896.
It didn’t go unnoticed by Trump who particularly referenced the Rio Grande Valley in a submit celebrating his victory on his social media web site, Reality 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 within the Valley to witness SpaceX’s sixth take a look at flight of its Starship car. His go to to the launch web site at Boca Chica Seaside comes amid reviews that the corporate’s founder, Elon Musk, has been a relentless presence in Trump’s orbit because the election. Trump additionally tapped Musk, alongside entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy, to co-lead a government-efficiency fee.
The take a look at flight was not fairly the commotion that some viewers anticipated it to be, particularly after the fifth take a look at flight final month despatched reverberations that have been reportedly felt by residents practically 70 miles away in Hidalgo County.
Throughout that fifth take a look at launch, the corporate’s Tremendous Heavy booster was efficiently caught by the “chopstick” arms of the launch and catch tower at Starbase.
Noise ranges from that launch have been increased than anticipated, with information reported by The New York Occasions suggesting that the height noise occurred because the first-stage booster returned to the positioning for self-landing.
That was not the case this time. The corporate aborted their try and catch the booster throughout Tuesday’s take a look at, although they managed a profitable touchdown of the car within 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 typically within the space however he got here to this explicit spot that day in hopes of getting a view of the Starship launch.
“There was no bang,” Sanchez mentioned in Spanish as he watched the area car off the bottom. The dearth of a calamitous explosion stunned him after final month’s launch had shaken his cell house.
The noise information instructed the launches may have an effect on native constructions, communities and the setting. Sanchez was barely involved about these results however believed the advantages of jobs created by SpaceX was well worth the danger.
“They know what they’re doing,” Sanchez mentioned.
However his favorable opinion of Musk’s firm didn’t prolong to Trump.
A naturalized citizen who gained amnesty beneath the Reagan administration, Sanchez didn’t view Trump’s immigration insurance policies as logistically sound.
“If you throw those people out, who’s going to work?” Sanchez mentioned. “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 go to and the launch itself drew the ire of a coalition of Rio Grande Valley organizations which condemned the SpaceX launch in an announcement Tuesday.
“SpaceX doesn’t assist humanity; it is a sci-fi fantasy for the wealthy and highly effective,” Josette Hinojosa, with South Texas Environmental Justice Network, partly said in a statement. “Elon Musk inviting Trump to observe our low-income neighborhood used as a testing web site for rocket explosions is a blatant instance of white supremacy.”
However when 19-year-old Ernesto Guerra of San Benito watched Starship launch into the sky, he noticed a possibility.
“There’s so much ahead in the future with Elon and what he can probably do,” Guerra mentioned.
He and his siblings introduced out seaside chairs they planted on the muddy sand to observe the launch. A longtime fan of SpaceX, Guerra is learning to be a welder and hopes to work on the firm sometime.
Nonetheless, this was the primary time he had come out to view the launch in individual as a substitute of viewing it on-line.
“I heard the big man Trump was coming,” he mentioned. “It made it all the more interesting.”
Guerra voted for Trump as a result of he appreciated the actions he took throughout his first time period and hopes he’ll comply with by way of on his marketing campaign guarantees. The eye that the Valley was now getting signaled to him that individuals have been realizing the world’s potential.
“The Valley’s getting recognized for its alternatives,’ Guerra mentioned.
Reporting within the Rio Grande Valley is supported partially by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.
Disclosure: The New York Occasions has been a monetary supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan information group that’s funded partially by donations from members, foundations and company sponsors. Monetary supporters play no function within the Tribune’s journalism. Discover a full checklist of them right here.
