FARGO — Frisco, Texas, will always have a place in the hearts of thousands of Fargoans and North Dakota State University football fans. It is the north Dallas suburb where the Bison played in 11 national championship games, winning 10, as a green and gold horde migrated to party and celebrate.
The ritual was such that between 2012 and 2025, the city was known as “Fargo South.” The Football Championship Subdivision title game has since moved to Nashville,
perhaps temporarily and perhaps not,
as Frisco’s Toyota Stadium undergoes massive renovations.
The memories are plentiful.
Sadly, Frisco is going through some things these days.
The city finds itself in an ugly drama as far-right politicians and influencers use Frisco as ground-zero of why immigration, in their minds, is damaging Texas and the United States.
Sadder still is that those barking the loudest are outside agitators bent on showing that Frisco is a living example of how white Americans are being shoved aside by darker-skinned immigrants who will gain political power.
Yes, that’s what is called the “Great Replacement” conspiracy theory, a right-wing fever dream that there’s a vast coordinated plot to supplant white people in America.
The story was told by Talking Points Memo,
an independent online news organization. The right-wing angst is aimed at the large Indian community in Frisco, a city usually lauded for its explosive growth and targeted planning strategy. Large multinational corporations, including T-Mobile and Keurig Dr Pepper, moved to Frisco. The Dallas Cowboys, Professional Golfers Association of America and FC Dallas soccer club are headquartered there.
New schools, parks and athletic facilities made Frisco attractive to young families and employees of the big companies that moved there. The population boomed from 30,000 in 2000 to 250,000 today. A small railroad hub north of the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex transformed into a bustling modern suburb.
The field plaza area at the Ford Center is a popular gathering space for Dallas Cowboys fans at The Star in Frisco, Texas.
David Samson / Forum file photo
With the growth came diversity. The corporations needed employees and searched the world for them. It’s estimated that one-third of Frisco’s population is Asian. That includes legal
from India.
Self-proclaimed “Heritage Texans” — otherwise known as white people (who historically were not heritage Texans, by the way) — want them gone to protect their power and, by extension, white people’s power in America.
It’s blatantly racist and it’s shredding Frisco.
Right-wingers recently shared a photo of a Scout troop from Frisco at a city council meeting. The children all appeared to be of South Asian descent. Activists decried it as an example of Great Replacement.
Most agitators appear to be from outside Frisco and many appear to reside largely in the online world. Republican U.S. Rep. Brandon Gill, from a congressional district near Frisco, railed against the city and called for an end to H-1B visas. Well-known far-right extremist Steve Bannon used Frisco as a reason why the U.S. should end all immigration, not just the illegal variety on which the Trump administration has cracked down.
“What it’s turned into, unfortunately, is a video recording studio for people who don’t live here and just want to use it for their own social media or public gain,” Frisco Mayor Jeff Cheney, a Republican, told Talking Points Memo.
It’s ugly.
The local Indian community is devastated and confused over the hatred.
It’s not the first time Frisco and neighboring Plano have been in the news for MAGA-style controversy.
from the cities and how the FBI was focusing Jan. 6 investigations in the area.
The Frisco known by Bison fans, that of a city filled with cold beer and delicious barbecue, has another element, too. It’s not nearly as fun.
Mike McFeely is a columnist for The Forum of Fargo-Moorhead. He began working for The Forum in the 1980s while he was a student studying journalism at Minnesota State University Moorhead. He’s been with The Forum full time since 1990, minus a six-year hiatus when he hosted a local radio talk-show.