{"id":246226,"date":"2026-04-12T10:38:09","date_gmt":"2026-04-12T10:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/246226\/"},"modified":"2026-04-12T10:38:09","modified_gmt":"2026-04-12T10:38:09","slug":"ice-arrests-leave-central-texas-families-struggling-to-survive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/246226\/","title":{"rendered":"ICE arrests leave Central Texas families struggling to survive"},"content":{"rendered":"

About this series:\u00a0The Cost of Living<\/a> explores how Austin became so expensive, who is being squeezed and why, and what local leaders are \u2014 and are not \u2014 doing to address it.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As an ice storm closed in<\/a> on Central Texas in late January, Bricia, a 43-year-old mother battling endometrial cancer, moved deliberately through her Elgin home, deciding what to pack before the power went out.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Pain radiated from her right shoulder, flaring with stress and aggravating skin already raw from radiation treatment. She wanted to lie down. Instead, she kept moving, preparing to flee the cold and the dark. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Three months behind on her power bill, she was losing heat and light at the worst possible moment \u2014 just months after federal immigration agents detained her husband<\/a>, the family\u2019s primary breadwinner.<\/p>\n

In the months since, Bricia and her 21-year-old U.S. citizen daughter have watched their savings evaporate, their business collapse and their home slip toward foreclosure \u2014 part of a widening pattern across Central Texas, where a surge in immigration arrests<\/a> is quietly destabilizing families and pushing many toward financial ruin.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\"Karla<\/p>\n

Karla Morales pets one of her four dogs as she feeds the animals on her family\u2019s property in Elgin, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. In addition to the dogs, the family also owns two horses, one pony and approximately 20 chickens. Morales said they will likely have to give up all but one dog if their home goes into foreclosure, causing them to move. \u201cI don\u2019t like to think about it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Such stories are becoming increasingly common in Bastrop County, including Elgin, a majority-Hispanic exurb of about 12,000 residents, roughly 30 miles east of downtown Austin. In the \u201cSausage Capital of Texas,\u201d gravel roads wind past goat and horse pens on properties belonging to immigrant families who commute to the city to work construction or clean homes. Many were drawn to the area decades ago by affordable land and rent. Now, deportations are eroding that stability.<\/p>\n

Other area residents are also absorbing the financial shock of losing a primary breadwinner. They include a recent college graduate in Camp Swift who is supporting the family after her father\u2019s deportation, and another Elgin mother who is selling pan dulce late into the night, taking on her husband\u2019s work.<\/p>\n

Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrests in Central and South Texas have climbed to an average of 2,000 arrests per month during the Trump administration, according to a New York Times analysis<\/a>. About 9 in 10 of those arrested locally are men, the American-Statesman found<\/a>, leaving women and children to shoulder the economic fallout.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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ICE did not respond to the Statesman\u2019s requests for comment.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Bricia\u2019s husband, a construction subcontractor, was detained 11 months ago after a traffic stop by Elgin police \u2014 an arrest that triggered the family\u2019s financial unraveling. Bricia, a Mexican immigrant living in the country without legal status, and her daughter have since lost two cars and a small plot of land where they once raised cattle to creditors. They\u2019ve also fallen behind on property tax payments on the family home. (The Statesman is withholding Bricia\u2019s last name because of her legal status.)<\/p>\n

That icy weekend in January, the family fled to San Antonio to stay with Bricia\u2019s mother. They remained there for more than a week as Bricia sought financial help from relatives and family friends to pay their $1,000 power bill. Her daughter found work painting houses but said she was never paid.<\/p>\n

Then they returned home \u2014 and to a future that remained uncertain.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cI have the clock against me and I don\u2019t know what to do,\u201d said Bricia, who has lived in the United States for more than 25 years. \u201cI don\u2019t know what comes next.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Bricia<\/p>\n

Bricia prepares enchiladas during a fundraiser to try to raise money to pay back taxes on her property in Elgin, Sunday, March 22, 2026. Investing $300 into the food sale, she made about $130.<\/p>\n

Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman\"Bricia<\/p>\n

Bricia examines one of her past due electricity bills while sitting on her porch in Elgin, Tuesday, March 17, 2026.<\/p>\n

Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

The storm cometh\u00a0<\/p>\n

For the past two decades, Bricia helped her husband run his contracting business, hiring workers and scheduling jobs installing walls, stuccoing and painting new houses. The business employed several workers and generated about $8,000 per month, Bricia\u2019s husband, Miguel Morales, told the Statesman in a phone interview from Mexico.<\/p>\n

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The work supported the entire family and helped them build their home piece by piece beginning in 2013.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The family\u2019s finances tightened after Bricia\u2019s 2023 cancer diagnosis, which required costly chemotherapy, radiation and surgeries, the family said. The last surgeries, to remove metastasized growths in Bricia\u2019s left foot at the start of last year, resulted in the amputation of parts of each of her toes and left her bedridden and in a wheelchair for months. Morales\u2019 deportation came during this time.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The family, who had struggled for years to pay property taxes on time, defaulted on a payment plan to keep their home, prompting legal action by the county.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Karla<\/p>\n

Karla Morales listens to her mother, Bricia, discuss the day her father was arrested by immigration agents as they sit in their living room in Elgin, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. The arrest was made on outstanding warrants related to driving without a license, after which ICE picked him up from the county jail in March 2025. Unauthorized immigrants in Texas are not eligible for driver’s licenses.<\/p>\n

Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Bricia\u2019s husband was arrested in May 2025 on outstanding warrants related to driving without a license, after which ICE picked him up from the county jail. People in Texas without legal status are not eligible for driver licenses. Miguel Morales had previously been cited for outdoor burning and multiple instances of driving without a license, according to Bastrop County records. The Statesman could not find a criminal record for Bricia.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Although Bricia spent more than $5,000 on her husband\u2019s defense \u2014 first hoping he\u2019d be released on bond to continue working and later just long enough to close out business dealings \u2014 Morales was deported to Mexico in November.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By then, the family\u2019s finances had collapsed. Bricia and her daughter, Karla Morales, tried to keep the business going, but after Miguel Morales was detained, contractors stopped paying, leaving them about $7,000 short for work on half a dozen houses, the family said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they thought they weren’t going to be able to finish,\u201d Miguel Morales said.<\/p>\n

Due to her health, Bricia has been unable to take on other work. Karla Morales lost her job translating forms at a notary\u2019s office in February. The family is trying to make a $6,200 payment before the mid-April court judgment. \u00a0<\/p>\n

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Bricia\u2019s story is not an outlier. Across Bastrop County, deportations are shifting financial responsibility overnight \u2014 often onto daughters and wives who must quickly replace lost income while navigating systems they\u2019ve never had to manage alone.<\/p>\n

\"Karla<\/p>\n

Karla Morales piles hay into troughs for her two horses and one pony as she does chores on her family\u2019s property in Elgin, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. Karla and her father would alternate days they looked after their animals, but after his deportation the workload has fell to Karla.<\/p>\n

Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Taking on the burden<\/p>\n

Michelle Zavala, 24, had just moved back to her family home in Camp Swift, just south of Elgin, when immigration agents detained her father. His deportation left Zavala \u2014 a recent Texas State master\u2019s degree graduate \u2014 suddenly responsible for supporting the household.<\/p>\n

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Roberto Zavala, 53, a floor installer who had lived in the United States for three decades and was in the process of applying for legal residency, was on his way to the dentist when state troopers pulled him over and quickly turned him over to an ICE agent, his wife, Jaqueline Rodriguez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Jaqueline\"Jaqueline<\/p>\n

Left:Jaqueline Rodriguez and Michelle Zavala chat with Roberto Zavala as he Facetimes them from Matamorros, Mexico as the mother and daughter sit at their family dining room table. Right:Jaqueline Rodriguez and Michelle Zavala discuss having to surrender their family dog, Coco, in order to save money to pay the bills for their home in Bastrop.<\/p>\n

Mikala Compton \/ Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Left:Jaqueline Rodriguez and Michelle Zavala chat with Roberto Zavala as he Facetimes them from Matamorros, Mexico as the mother and daughter sit at their family dining room table. Right:Jaqueline Rodriguez and Michelle Zavala discuss having to surrender their family dog, Coco, in order to save money to pay the bills for their home in Bastrop.<\/p>\n

Mikala Compton \/ Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

The Department of Public Safety did not respond to the Statesman\u2019s questions regarding its cooperation with immigration agents.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She scrambled to secure funding for her unpaid social work internship. Of the $2,000 monthly stipend she eventually received, half immediately went toward utility bills, groceries and money sent to her father, who has struggled to find work in Matamoros, Mexico. The family used the last of its savings to pay last year\u2019s property taxes, Rodriguez said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Rodriguez, who has spent decades caring for her children (\u201cthey could both read by preschool because of me\u201d), said she\u2019s nervously preparing to enter the workforce.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI have to go out into the world now,\u201d said Rodriguez, who only recently became a permanent resident. \u201cBut it\u2019s like I don\u2019t know where to start.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Top<\/p>\n

Top photo: Reminders of Miguel Morales, a figurine of a saddle he created using food wrappers from his time in the detention center. Middle and bottom photos: Photos of the Roberto Zavala and Jaqueline Rodriguez, and\u00a0Rodriguez\u2019s wedding ring as seen in the family\u2019s home in Elgin, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026.<\/p>\n

Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

For some families, the fight for survival is even more immediate.<\/p>\n

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About 13 miles north of Camp Swift, near Elgin\u2019s historic downtown, Margarita, a 43-year-old mother of five, begins to prepare the pan dulce each morning after sending her daughter to school. Her thick palms mix pink, yellow and chocolate sugar toppings for conchas as sweet potatoes boil nearby for empanadas. (The Statesman is withholding Margarita\u2019s last name because of her legal status.)\u00a0<\/p>\n

By afternoon, the small oven, set at 475 degrees, fills the dark kitchen with heavy heat. Around the corner, her 2-year-old son, ill with a chronic intestinal condition, coughs as he sleeps on her bed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Margarita\"Margarita<\/p>\n

Margarita sections out dough as she prepares pan dulce in her kitchen in Elgin, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. Her husband was detained in January, and she took over his baking business to try and make ends meet and care for their four children in his absence.<\/p>\n

Mikala Compton \/ Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Margarita sections out dough as she prepares pan dulce in her kitchen in Elgin, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. Her husband was detained in January, and she took over his baking business to try and make ends meet and care for their four children in his absence.<\/p>\n

Mikala Compton \/ Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Until her husband was detained by immigration agents in late January, most of this work had been his. She\u2019s had to relearn some of the recipes and now goes out each evening with her son to sell bread for $1 apiece around local shopping centers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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Seven days a week, often until 9 or 10 p.m., Margarita stays out until she sells the 50 to 60 pieces she makes daily, far fewer than the roughly 150 pieces she and her husband once produced together. On days when reports of traffic stops and ICE activity circulate through the community, fewer customers venture out, stretching her workday even longer.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s not a lot of people at the stores,\u201d Margarita said. \u201cPeople don\u2019t want to go out. I mean, I don\u2019t want to either, but I have to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Deepening poverty<\/p>\n

Like many families interviewed by the Statesman, Margarita has struggled to keep up with bills. Last month, she came within a day of having her water cut off. At the start of April, she had fallen behind on her $1,200 monthly rent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cI have almost none of it,\u201d said Margarita, who as of Friday had only gathered $400 and had been given a final one-week extension by her landlord.<\/p>\n

\"Margarita\u2019s\"Margarita<\/p>\n

Margarita and her son sell pan dulce outside the family\u2019s rental home in Elgin, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. Margarita has struggled to keep up with bills since her husband was detained by immigration agents in January. Last month, she came within a day of having her water cut off. At the start of April, she had fallen behind on her $1,200 monthly rent.<\/p>\n

Mikala Compton \/ Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

Margarita and her son sell pan dulce outside the family\u2019s rental home in Elgin, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. Margarita has struggled to keep up with bills since her husband was detained by immigration agents in January. Last month, she came within a day of having her water cut off. At the start of April, she had fallen behind on her $1,200 monthly rent.<\/p>\n

Mikala Compton \/ Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

She sought help from community organizations but was told no assistance was available. Rental aid has largely dried up since the pandemic, but Margarita likely wouldn\u2019t qualify for state utility assistance, the largest available pool of money, because of legal status requirements, said Ben Martin, deputy director for Texas Housers, a housing advocacy nonprofit.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Although the immigrants interviewed said they have not received government assistance \u2014 many had not applied \u2014 the need is being felt by local service providers. Pastor Roland Nava \u2014 director of the Bastrop County Salvation Army and founder and CEO of the In the Streets-Hands up High Ministry, an emergency shelter \u2014 said immigrants without legal status are increasingly turning to his soup kitchen and food pantry after losing primary earners.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The Salvation Army is one of the few local organizations able to offer aid such as utility assistance to immigrants because it operates on private donations, though limited funding means individuals can receive only $100 every six months. Many wait too long to ask for help, he said, and some end up in shelters after eviction.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI ask them, \u2018Why didn\u2019t you come earlier?\u2019\u201d Nava said. \u201cAnd they say, \u2018We didn\u2019t know if coming here would mean someone would call.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Researchers at the Center for Migration Studies and American Immigration Council estimate that deportation of an adult can cut mixed-status household income by half to two-thirds. In households where no one has legal status, the impact can be even greater because those households tend to earn less, said Matthew Lisiecki, a researcher at the Center for Migration Studies.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Because most deportations involve men, the loss is compounded by wage gaps in many immigrant households, according to UC Merced sociologist Tanya Golash-Boza.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think over the course of a man’s career in a working class job, he is moving to better quality jobs. Women are going to stay at the low end\u201d of wage earning, Golash-Boza said. \u201cIt\u2019s literally the way the labor market is structured.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Bricia\"Karla<\/p>\n

Left: Bricia organizes items in her kitchen in Elgin, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026.Right: Karla Morales wipes down the stovetop in her kitchen at her home in Elgin, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. \u201cThis was my husband\u2019s youth,\u201d Bricia said of the home they built over years. “It\u2019s not a grand home. But it\u2019s a home.\u201d If they lose it, she said, everything they built disappears with it.<\/p>\n

Left: Bricia organizes items in her kitchen in Elgin, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026.Right: Karla Morales wipes down the stovetop in her kitchen at her home in Elgin, Tuesday, March 31, 2026. \u201cThis was my husband\u2019s youth,\u201d Bricia said of the home they built over years. “It\u2019s not a grand home. But it\u2019s a home.\u201d If they lose it, she said, everything they built disappears with it.<\/p>\n

The cost of holding on<\/p>\n

Despite the uncertainty, the families persist.\u00a0<\/p>\n

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The constant medical attention Margarita\u2019s son\u2019s intestinal condition requires has convinced her to remain in the United States, and she\u2019s planning to move in with her sister if she cannot make rent.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Zavala family is beginning to stabilize after Michelle found a counseling job at a high school.<\/p>\n

But for Bricia, the pressure continues to mount. She has tried unsuccessfully to sell half the family\u2019s two acres to settle back taxes. Other efforts have also floundered.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In February, Bricia invested $300 into a Sunday food sale. Family members traveled more than 100 miles from San Antonio to help her prepare enchiladas mineras, tacos al vapor, barbacoa, aguas frescas and cakes. She texted neighbors and posted flyers on community Facebook pages. Yet, on that particular Sunday, only a few friends stopped by or called in orders. She made about $130.<\/p>\n

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\"Bricia<\/p>\n

Bricia surveys her property in Elgin, Thursday, Jan. 22, 2026. Bricia is battling endometrial cancer and her husband, the family\u2019s primary breadwinner, was deported, setting the family thousands of dollars behind on taxes. She has tried unsuccessfully to sell half the family\u2019s two acres to settle back taxes.<\/p>\n

Mikala Compton\/Austin American-Statesman<\/p>\n

In times like these, Bricia said she has thought about leaving everything behind and returning to Mexico. But each time, she comes back to the same question: What would be left for her daughter?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThis was my husband\u2019s youth,\u201d she said of the home they built over years. “It\u2019s not a grand home, but it\u2019s a home.\u201d\u00a0
If they lose it, she said, everything they built disappears with it.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIt\u2019s like we\u2019re throwing her into a pool without a life jacket.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Struggling to afford Austin? We want to hear from you. Please share your story with us via email at hello@statesman.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"About this series:\u00a0The Cost of Living explores how Austin became so expensive, who is being squeezed and why,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":246227,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27,29,28],"class_list":{"0":"post-246226","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-texas","8":"tag-texas","9":"tag-texas-headlines","10":"tag-texas-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246226","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=246226"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/246226\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246227"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=246226"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=246226"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=246226"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}