Originally published at: What a 2006 Anti-Immigrant Panic Tells Us About Texas in 2026 - TPM – Talking Points Memo
In Frisco, Texas, far-right activists are seizing upon the growing community of immigrant families from India as an example of the racist “Great Replacement” theory, with white Americans being supplanted by newcomers of color. The recent furor has a certain political logic to it that echoes events from exactly 20 years ago in the very…
As 10th generation Pennsylvanian, not too surprised that my ancestor Johann Müller likely encountered anti-German sentiment in 1776 Lehigh Valley. Another piece of history tactfully omitted from the schoolbooks.
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Oh, I’m sure he did:
… why should the Palatine Boors be suffered to swarm into our Settlements, and by herding together establish their Language and Manners to the Exclusion of ours? Why should Pennsylvania, founded by the English, become a Colony of Aliens, who will shortly be so numerous as to Germanize us instead of our Anglifying them, and will never adopt our Language or Customs, any more than they can acquire our Complexion.
Benjamin Franklin
1751
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There’s a little local twist to this story. Richardson, which is a few miles east of Farmers Branch and south of Frisco, is home to sizable community of folks from the Indian subcontinent. (The Indian food over there is superb!)
I do not remember a single story about crime or anything unflattering about that community. But that doesn’t stop racist politicians in neighboring burbs from their kabuki fear and outrage. What they are doing is absolutely cynical and I don’t think it’s going to sell as well as they hope – at all.
Knock on wood.
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Hopefully, many Americans are realizing that ICE and CBP are rounding up people we depend on to varying degrees. Fewer migrant workers means higher prices for produce at the grocery store; fewer Hispanic construction workers means higher prices and longer waits for having an addition to one’s home built, along with an assist from the tariff on Canadian lumber.
At least opposition to H-1B visas makes some sort of sense: those are used to fill desirable jobs that Americans would compete for, or could be trained for if there’s an immediate shortage. But most new immigrants take the crap jobs that nobody who’s grown up here wants: work in the chicken processing plants, stoop labor in the fields, tree surgery, roofing installation, stuff like that. I don’t want those workers sent home, and most people don’t either if they think about it for half a moment.
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What Happened in Farmers Branch is that the city council and mayor decided they wanted their town to be more upscale, to not be known as a working class area. They figured the best way to do that was to drive out the “undesirables". The anti-immigrant rental ordinance was a big part of that. They also passed zoning laws to prevent affordable housing from being built, closed off existing neighborhoods to make them more exclusive, accelerated gentrification with permitting practices, etc. Sadly, it mostly worked.
I grew up in Farmers Branch, it was a great place to grow up. Obviously, that was before all this immigrant animosity from the city. No one I grew up with was like that. I never understood where all the hostility came from back when this was happening. Hopefully things are better there now. I havent been there (other to drive through it) in many years.
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Lived in Plano and Dallas for a few years. Plano, Richardson and surrounding towns were fairly cool with people moving in. Of course, I was a Yankee, but in general, the area was welcoming- especially with the Tech section booming.
Republican politics has gotten more corrosive as their poll numbers shrink.
The GOP is always willing to thrown immigrants and people of color under the bus to get (White) voters to the polls.