Long before dawn breaks over South Texas, U.S. Border Patrol agents in the Rio Grande Valley Sector begin their patrols, navigating well-worn paths near McAllen through wildlife preserves and citrus fields nestled between the winding river and the border wall. Along the riverbank, Border Patrol agent Andres Garcia stops at a sign warning of potential drownings. Though the area seems calm, Garcia knows criminal organizations on both sides of the border are watching. “I can pretty much tell you this river is always being watched,” Garcia said. While foot traffic continues legally across the McAllen-Hidalgo International Bridge, smuggling operations controlled by Mexican cartels lie in wait. The cartels take advantage of the easiest routes to move drugs and people across the dangerous Rio Grande, exploiting migrants who grow impatient waiting for legal entry through the CBP One app. “We urge migrants to use the CBP One app in order to avoid those dangers that the Rio Grande,” said longtime CBP agent Christina Smallwood in early January. However, migrants’ desperation often leads them to cross illegally. Smallwood said smuggling organizations, often referred to as coyotes, use Trump’s stricter policies to pressure migrants into crossing. “They become impatient,” Smallwood said. “They do need to keep in mind if they do make illegal entry and are apprehended by Border Patrol or other entity, they do face Title 8 sanctions.” Migrants who do cross illegally often attempt to blend in with farm workers. In the past, the Rio Grande Valley sector registered as many as 2,500 crossings daily, leading to makeshift processing centers under bridges. While crossings have dropped, illegal encounters jumped last month, creating concerns. “Historically speaking this sector for the last ten years have been number one in the nation now that we’ve dropped to fourth of fifth,” said Garcia. “The difference between there and now is the positioning, the strategic points, how we’ve adapted, worked in conjunction with other agencies, locally, state and federal.” Daylight reveals no migrants, only discarded rafts. Smallwood highlights a beacon rescue tower with instructions in multiple languages, designed to aid migrants who get lost or are abandoned. Forty-two miles west in Starr County, a campaign promise could be realized on a 1,400-acre ranch recently acquired by Texas and offered to the Trump administration for a detention or deportation center. The state has already built a 1.5-mile steel border wall on the property, which Texas Land Commissioner Dawn Buckingham says is ideal for a mass deportation base due to its proximity to McAllen’s airport. “We have heard from Tom Homan that he does view this Texas state lands as being part of their strategic plan,” Buckingham said in a Zoom interview with NBC 5 shortly before the inauguration. In Rio Grande City, Texas Café owner Becky Garza and local Democratic Party leader Chema Alvarez say the economy and a new school bond swayed voters in Starr County, which went Republican for the first time in over a century. “Starr County might make national news but Starr County hasn’t changed,” Alvarez said. “We’re still the same. We’re still 99% Hispanic. We’re not going to be moving out of here because we had a one-term president beat us on one election.” Alvarez welcomes a new deportation facility, on one condition: that it be a permanent facility. “It would be such a big shot in the arm. I don’t care if it’s Abbott or Trump proposing this thing, just do it,” Alvarez said. “If it’s just going to be a tent city like most of the little places are, it’s not going to be good for us.” Garza, whose family has owned the café for generations and who is also an educator, says the silver lining of a tougher stance on illegal immigration is the impact on the local economy. “The plus, like I said, will be that there will be jobs available, and I like that because the economy is what I have a problem with right now,” Garza said. When asked if the facility will be a permanent one, as is the hope of locals, Buckingham said: “I would anticipate not. I would anticipate it’s something that you can put up, use for the time needed and put down, hopefully with some leadership on some immigration reform.” Buckingham added they are working to ensure livestock and farmers maintain access to the river as the state seeks to expand the steel barrier. “The residents of Starr County, and actually all the major Valley counties firmly went for Trump in this election, and it was a clear message to, I think, the world, that they are tired of being ignored,” Buckingham said. “They’re tired of having their communities harmed by these policies, and that they want to get back to the economic prosperity and beauty of their communities in a safe environment. And so we’re going to do everything we can to help them.” The four-hour peak window for crossings passes with no encounters. No rescues. No loss of life in the RGV. “Really nothing changes for us,” said Smallwood of what changes they expect under the new administration. “We follow all laws that Congress put into place. Our operations will continue. We will continue to patrol.” Border Patrol and residents await whatever changes come their way, resilient and seemingly unfazed by the headlines and rhetoric. “I’ve been living on the border all my life. They’re not going to stop it. They’re not going to stop illegal immigration,” Alvarez said. “Even the Northern congressmen, once they come down here and see what the scenario looks like, they themselves will tell you: That wall isn’t going to work. Nothing’s going to work.”