On a Wednesday morning, a group of day laborers stood by the curb along the Interstate 35 access road in Austin, facing a Home Depot parking lot. They were united in a few sentiments.

Jobs had been hard to come by lately, and the costs of living—including gas, groceries, and rent—had been tough.

The men observed were primarily undocumented workers from countries like Honduras, Guatemala, Mexico, Venezuela, El Salvador, and Haiti, dressed in long-sleeve shirts, jeans, sunglasses, and baseball caps, ready for the construction or maintenance jobs that might arise.

A pastel blue Chevy SUV pulled up, and the men quickly approached. The driver offered $40 for five hours of work, but insisted on using a pickup truck.

Most of the workers shrugged, with a few making disapproving sounds, and many decided to walk away. Two of them, however, noted the driver’s phone number.

“Before COVID, we set the prices,” stated 42-year-old Danilo G., an undocumented immigrant from Guatemala who has lived in Austin for 20 years. “Now the drivers seeking workers have that power.”

Although Danilo couldn’t vote in the recent elections, he and several other laborers interviewed expressed optimism about the presidential race results. A victory for Donald Trump, according to Danilo, could herald an economic resurgence that many have been hoping for since the pandemic began.

For Danilo,Trump’s potential return to the presidency seemed to promise economic stability that inflation has drastically undermined—this was worth the potential risk of deportation, he remarked. At least on this morning, with the post-election mood still fresh, Trump’s presidency felt like an opportunity waiting to be seized.

“More investment. If the economy picks up, jobs will follow,” Danilo explained in Spanish. He added, “Trump aims to deport those who engage in wrongdoing. I haven’t violated any laws.”

Trump has promised to initiate a significant deportation initiative on the first day of his new term.

Election analyses reflected significant trends. Surveys conducted by the University of Texas indicated that 61% of Hispanic Texans viewed the nation’s current trajectory unfavorably. A plurality of 49% believed Trump was a better steward of the economy compared to Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic candidate. An exit poll by Edison Research for The Washington Post suggested Trump captured the majority of Latino votes in Texas, including nearly two-thirds of Hispanic men—a dramatic change away from traditional Democratic support. If accurate, these results mark a significant victory for the Republican party among Hispanic voters.

Trump’s support among various Hispanic demographics—typically Democratic—was notably strong, notably among small-town working-class Tejanos, Chicanos, and residents from Texas’s border regions. For many working-class Latino men in Austin, the choice in the presidential election felt logical: the struggling economy and differing rhetoric between the president-elect and the expected policies made a vote for Trump appealing. To them, the alternative seemed like a deepening dissatisfaction.

For Danilo, his support for Trump is mainly driven by his financial struggles, compounded by differing views with the Democratic platform that left him disillusioned. As an evangelical Christian, he is worried about the rise of nonbinary gender education in schools and the focus on abortion access.

Ultimately, his views reflect a broader discontent with the current establishment. “Those in power haven’t recognized the struggles of those without power,” Danilo expressed as those around him nodded in agreement.

Víctor R., a Mexican immigrant, has been living in Austin for eight years and working as a day laborer. He shared his concerns about the economic hardships he’s facing. According to him, job availability has plummeted from almost daily work to just two jobs weekly in recent years.

“The current situation is severe. Right now, you’re just earning enough to get by,” Víctor stated in Spanish.

Despite hearing others paint a positive view of Trump’s leadership, Víctor is skeptical and criticized the blame they place on President Joe Biden’s administration for current issues.

“Wars erupted, the pandemic hit, and the migrant crisis started when Biden took office,” the 61-year-old explained in Spanish. “Trump had a smooth time. I hope we see a change with this man and how he behaves. Promises mean nothing.”

Both Víctor and another day laborer, Danilo, expressed that the lack of job opportunities and increased competition creates tension among fellow laborers. Since Trump’s election, the number of immigrant men seeking work in the Home Depot parking lot has expanded, including individuals from Venezuela, Haiti, and Cuba alongside the usual Mexican and Central American immigrants. This change has made them somewhat receptive to Trump’s calls for limiting border crossings.

Meanwhile, across the parking lot, 82-year-old Rito Recendez maneuvered his orange cart filled with cement bags and a long two-by-four intended for constructing a storage shed in his backyard. Having immigrated from Zacatecas, Mexico, 50 years ago, Recendez cast his first vote in 2020 after becoming a citizen. Initially, he voted for Biden, seeing him as a symbol of change and stability.

This time, he intended to back Harris but switched to Trump about a month before the election, influenced by his grandson’s encouragement. His grandson suggested Trump could help lower costs and limit immigration. Recendez has noticed what he perceives as an increase in welfare use among recent immigrants, a stark contrast to his own experiences when he arrived.

Despite his discomfort with some of Trump’s disparaging comments, Recendez stated that the former president’s promises ultimately won him over. He chuckled as he recalled Trump’s derogatory remarks.

“We all know they’re exaggerated,” Recendez noted. “He annoys me a bit, but we know him already.”

This report has been adjusted to enumerate the immigrants residing in the U.S. without legal status using only their first names.