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The memory of nearly 20,000 primarily Haitian immigrants arriving at the border is seared into the minds of Del Rio residents. Many fear it could happen again, making immigration one of the key issues in Sheriff Joe Frank Martinez’s race for reelection and disrupting local politics.
Investigations

A pro-gun, anti-abortion border sheriff appealed to both parties. Then he was painted as soft on immigration.

Immigration is not part of Joe Frank Martinez’s job. But in Del Rio, like in other majority Latino communities across the country, the issue is high on voters’ minds and is disrupting long-standing political allegiances.

By Perla Trevizo, The Texas Tribune and ProPublica, Photos by Gerardo del Valle, ProPublica

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Shifting politics

The Martinez siblings pose for a family photo during Easter Sunday in 1966.
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Unfolding crisis

Joe Frank Martinez appeared on Fox News in April 2021 to talk about the resource constraints his sheriff’s office was experiencing.
The arrival of immigrants in September 2021 overwhelmed the Border Patrol, which directed people to wait to be processed in an area around the international bridge in Del Rio. With nowhere to sleep, many made their own huts with river cane they’d cut from the banks of the Rio Grande.
Val Verde County Attorney David Martinez believes immigrants continue to play an important role in the country. “We're here because of a country that was more accepting of immigrants and I think that a lot of people in our country, if they truly look at their roots and are honest with themselves, would have to come to the same conclusion.”

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Losing ground

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During the summer of 2021, a Fox News camera captured the moment when Joe Frank Martinez helped pull immigrants already in the United States out of the Rio Grande. Republicans later used the image to accuse him of helping people enter the country illegally.
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Broken system

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