EDINBURG — Tucked in a business plaza aptly located on Sugar Road, a specialty doughnut shop was on the verge of shuttering its doors last year.

The shop, with bright pink and blue walls, pink accent chairs, and neon sign that read “Don’t Stop Believing,” specializes in artisanal doughnuts such as maple bacon, strawberry shortcake and “splits” — doughnut cut in half and filled with ice cream.

Luz Ramos, the shop’s owner, named the store Papy Donuts, in honor of her father who supported their family of 11 for decades as a seasonal baker in the Rio Grande Valley. He now bakes at the shop full-time.

She opened the store in May 2022 after running a construction company with her ex-husband. As the COVID-19 pandemic prompted businesses to rely more on social media, she used platforms like Instagram to gain popularity in the community. But in August, her sales dropped, sometimes only raking in as little as $200 a day. Ramos announced to the shop's Instagram followers that Papy Donuts would be closing.

Then she tried one more "Hail Mary" shot at bringing in more people to her store: Trump-themed doughnut.

The day after Election Day, Ramos announced on Instagram she would sell doughnuts covered in red frosting with the words "Trump" in white icing for one dollar.

People flocked to her shop for the Trump doughnut.

"They were a big hit," she said. "To this day, people ask for them."

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Ramos tends to customers at her shop in Edinburg on Jan. 25. Credit: Gabriel V. Cardenas for The Texas Tribune

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Brayden García, 8, shows the ‘Trump’ donut that he got at Papy Donuts in Edinburg on Jan. 25. Credit: Gabriel V. Cardenas for The Texas Tribune

Edinburg, part of the Rio Grande Valley along the southern border, has long been considered a Democratic stronghold in Texas. However, Trump swept nearly every border county.

Her sales tripled and the store began making a profit again. It hasn’t been a total sugar high.

In response to her post, Ramos received harassing messages including death threats.

As a precaution, she joined the Edinburg Police Department's "Business Watch" program by which police officers stop by to check up on her store on occasion.

The backlash also grabbed the attention of U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, who posted a photo of herself with Ramos on social media in December, encouraging the community to support the small business.

Corporations and business leaders have long injected themselves into politics and cultural trends, hoping to capitalize on popular sentiment. Businesses often donate to political candidates and give to nonprofits. However, as national politics become more common in daily lives, the call to support or divest from companies based on politics has become more heightened. Those political battle lines extended closer to home as small businesses attached themselves to national politics.

In fact, Ramos isn’t the only Texas-based baker to have her foray into politics gain attention. The owner of a Dallas-area bakery, who has made her liberal leanings public, received harassing messages and fake orders following Trump's victory. And like Ramos, she also received a swell of support from like-minded customers.

Ramos anticipated some customers would not be happy, even though she didn't intend to antagonize anyone, she assured. In fact, before the election, she featured doughnuts that promoted both Trump and his Democratic challenger Vice President Kamala Harris. The Trump doughnuts sold better, she said.

Promoting the Trump doughnuts after the election wasn't purely a business tactic. She wanted to show her support for Trump, who she believes will be best for small businesses like hers.

She believes Trump is a good businessman and good for small businesses like hers. After Harris said she wouldn't have done anything differently than President Joe Biden did during his term.

About 99% of businesses in the U.S. are small businesses and of those, about 71% said they were more interested in the results of the 2024 election than they were of the 2020 election, according to a survey by the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

"You can just imagine the important part they play in the economy of the country," said Ruchi Gupta, a small business mentor with Service Corps of Retired Executives, a nonprofit that provides mentoring and resources to small businesses. "Therefore those policies that either will be framed by the incoming government, or by the current government, they're really very important to small businesses."

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Jaime Ramos takes out a tray as his daughter Luz passes by at their store on Jan. 28. Credit: Gabriel V. Cardenas for The Texas Tribune

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Luz poses for a photo at her shop Papy Donuts. Credit: Gabriel V. Cardenas for The Texas Tribune

Despite the growing political interest by small business owners, Gupta said there isn't any evidence that more businesses are trying to draw in customers by taking a political stance and it is not a strategy she would advise.

"I would strongly caution against this trend because you do see this is transient," Gupta said. "Change is constant in the political environment so if they keep vocalizing their political views, I predict that there may be more polarization amongst their stakeholders."

The public's memory is short-lived, Gupta said, so while uproar from a political stance is likely to blow over, so is the wave of support.

"The bottom line is what is the product? What is it that the business is selling and how does that affect the customer?" Gupta said. "These are the intangible things and some of the tangible ones that are going to affect customer loyalty, not political opinions."

Ramos, a single-mother to a 6-year-old boy, said she wouldn’t do anything differently because she was in survival mode. She felt caught between a decision to either take a political stance or allow her business to close.

“I really did need it, and that came along, and it's been nothing but good after,” she said. “I can honestly say Trump doughnuts saved me.”

Weeks later, Ramos continues to sell out. On good days, she makes between $1,000 to $1,500 a day.

And the Trump doughnuts returned for Trump’s inauguration, which she branded as American-themed donuts. She now sells them every day.

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

Disclosure: The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has been a financial supporter of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2025/01/29/donald-trump-texas-doughnut-shop/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

MISSION — In January, Elle Holbrook will be crowned Queen Citrianna, the face of the Rio Grande Valley's citrus industry for the next year.

Her title and the competition created to earn it are part of the Texas Citrus Fiesta, a decades-old celebration of the industry rooted in the Valley.

Holbrook was among the dozens of young women competing for the crown as duchesses, each representing a citrus product.

As the duchess of Rio Red Grapefruit, a staple of Texas citrus, she donned an elaborate red gown with rhinestones running down the length of the dress’s skirt to resemble sections of a grapefruit.

Next month, she will debut a new white and gold gown during a ceremony held in Mission, where John H. Shary planted the first large commercial citrus orchard in the Valley.

But as 17-year-old Holbrook prepares to make her first appearance as queen and the city readies for a string of festivities, the future of the citrus industry is uncertain. A pair of natural disasters — including Winter Storm Uri in 2021 — and a lack of water have put the million-dollar citrus industry and regional leaders on edge.

“The freeze killed all of our lemon and lime crop of our personal farm, which was very sad because it was a big industry,” said Holbrook, whose family owns South Tex Organics, the largest grower of organic citrus in Texas.

The company, started by her grandfather, Dennis Holbrook, suffered from the winter storm and yielded little to no crop the year after the freeze. Nearly four years later, production levels are still not where they once were. A lack of water has prevented the industry from recovering.

"Since there's no water, it was hard for it to bounce back,” Holbrook said.

An aerial view of citrus groves at Lone Star Citrus Growers. Water necessary for citrus fruits’ recovery has been in short supply. Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune

Texas' citrus industry is entirely based in the Rio Grande Valley and has a more than $300 million economic impact on the state.

"We are not a large physical footprint anymore, but we still pack enough economic punch," said Dale Murden, president of Texas Citrus Mutual, a nonprofit trade association that represents the interests of commercial citrus growers.

The reduction can be traced back to a 2020 hurricane followed by the winter storm in 2021. The freezing temperatures caused the loss of two crops –– the crop that was on the tree and the citrus flowers that were starting to bloom for the next crop, Murden said.

The water necessary for their recovery has been in short supply.

"Medicine, for the trees, is water," said April Flowers, marketing director for Lone Star Citrus Growers. "We were in drought and we have struggled to come back from this drought, and so our recovery has been very prolonged."

As a result, the company is only producing about 75% of its typical crop size in terms of tonnage.

Farmers in the Valley largely depend on surface water from the Rio Grande.

A mature citrus tree typically needs between 40 and 50 inches of water a year, said David Laughlin, a research associate at the Texas A&M AgriLife Research Center.

The average rainfall in the Valley is about 20 inches per year, so about half of the water that a tree needs needs to be supplied through irrigation. Unfortunately, too often, when it rains in the Valley, it pours. Any water that can’t be captured and stored will just run off into the Gulf of Mexico.

That’s why farmers and ranchers in the area depend on irrigation that is facilitated by capturing water at two international reservoirs that feed into the river.

“Without irrigation and water coming from the river, citrus wouldn't exist,” Laughlin said. “Citrus production would not exist in the Valley.”

However, water levels at the reservoirs have been low for two main reasons. First, drought conditions, but also because Mexico has not delivered water that it owes the U.S. under a 1944 treaty.

The treaty dictates how the U.S. and Mexico share water from six tributaries, but Mexico has fallen behind on its water deliveries, leading to scarce water for the agriculture industry.

The lack of water has already prompted the closing of Texas' last sugar mill in February and is preventing the citrus industry from bouncing back.

For the last 20 years, the industry averaged about 15 million cartons of citrus per year, according to Murden. However, last year's harvest was about seven million cartons.

A grapefruit tree, center, in between producing trees that mostly died during the major winter storm in 2021 at Lone Star Citrus Growers. Water that can’t be captured and stored when it rains runs off into the Gulf of Mexico, having farmers and ranchers in the area depend on irrigation that is facilitated by capturing water at two international reservoirs that feed into the river. Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune

While this year's harvest is looking to hold steady at seven million, farmers aren't able to properly plant, leaving the future of citrus production in question and prompting layoffs among the citrus companies.

"There's willingness to plant, there's acreage to be planted, there's trees in the greenhouse to be planted sitting there because we can't count on the water supply," Murden said. "I'd be planting right now if I had the water."

Last month, the two countries agreed to an amendment to the treaty that gave Mexico more options through which to deliver water. One of those options is giving up excess water through Mexico’s Rio San Juan, which would not otherwise be an option since that river is not one of the six tributaries managed by the treaty.

The U.S. has already accepted 120,000 acre-feet of water from the Río San Juan, but Murden said the water is a relatively small supply that won't have much benefit for agriculture. The treaty requires Mexico to deliver 1.75 million-acre feet of water every five-year cycle. The current cycle ends in October 2025, yet Mexico still owes more than 1.3 million-acre feet.

While the lack of water continues to impact citrus growers, as well as producers of other agricultural products, Murden said the severity of the situation is not being recognized enough.

"The cities haven't run out of water yet," Murden said. "Sometimes, you think, to them, it's a myth that we're going to run out of water because they haven't turned the tap off yet. Meanwhile, I see car wash after car wash being built."

He is also frustrated by what he perceives as the U.S. State Department's refusal to force Mexico to comply, believing the Valley is the sacrificial lamb in larger political or trade negotiations between the U.S. and Mexico.

“We're sacrificed," Murden said.

Farm workers empty bags of grapefruit into containers at Lone Star Citrus Growers groves near Mission. Mexico has not delivered water that it owes the U.S. under a 1944 treaty, leading to scarce water for the agriculture industry. Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune

A spokesperson for the International Boundary and Water Commission, the federal agency that manages the treaty, said they were working with the State Department, Texas officials, and the Mexican government to do all they can to resolve the issue.

“It is unlikely Mexico will meet its water delivery obligations by the end of this five-year cycle. However, the USIBWC has not given up on our efforts to deliver relief to U.S. water users while holding Mexico to its treaty obligations,” said Frank Fisher, the IBWC spokesperson.

“We continue to stay engaged with Mexico and the State Department on this matter and will not quit until Mexico delivers the water it owes to the United States,” Fisher said.

The State Department also said they continued to work with Mexico on obtaining the water.

“We continue to work toward regular water deliveries from Mexico and to hold Mexico to its treaty obligations,” a department spokesperson said. “Mexico has until October 2025 to meet its current Treaty obligations arising from this five-year cycle absent certain exceptions. The United States continues to encourage Mexico to use the tools created in (the treaty amendment) to deliver desperately needed water at the earliest possible date.”

Murden praised efforts by lawmakers to address the issue, particularly a proposal from U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz, R-Edinburg, which would provide emergency financial assistance to farmers for their economic losses. But disaster bills, he said, are not a long-term solution.

“You've got to grow a crop,” he said. “You’ve got to have something to sell."

Flowers doesn’t think the issue is getting the attention it needs or that people truly realize the consequences of lower agricultural production, warning that the nation could experience similar supply chain issues experienced due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

"I'm truly shocked at how quickly we have forgotten what food scarcity is and what a security issue that is," Flowers said. "Every farmer I know is planting less right now, and when we talk about national security, food supply is a very large piece of that."

Agricultural operations manager at Lone Star Citrus Growers Jason Martin squeezes a grapefruit picked off a tree. Lone Star Citrus Growers uses drip irrigation for some of its trees, an irrigation system that delivers water directly to plants. Credit: Michael Gonzalez for The Texas Tribune

The International Boundary and Water Commission, a federal agency that oversees the international water treaty, has stressed the importance of finding other sources of water, a solution that some Valley water suppliers have already started to embrace.

For example, the North Alamo Water Supply Corporation and the Brownsville Public Utilities Board are trying to rely more on groundwater that is treated through desalination.

Citrus growers are also doing what they can to conserve the water they have.

Most citrus growers in the Valley still rely on a system of irrigation called flood irrigation, which consists of opening a valve to flood a field of citrus trees, according to Laughlin, which works well when there’s enough water.

However, many farmers are using another method for their new groves called drip irrigation, which delivers the water directly to the plant.

“It's a lot more efficient, but it takes a lot more money to establish that kind of system,” Laughlin said. “Only growers that can afford it can implement it.”

Lone Star Citrus Growers uses drip irrigation for some of its trees and also using a staggered planting style that places its plants on raised beds that allow space for more trees.

“By being raised, we’re able to deliver more directly and a lot more conservatively,” Flowers said. “We’ve been very proactive in trying to figure out the best way to maximize every drop we get.”

South Tex Organics is also trying to maximize use of its water. The farm is working with Texas A&M University to design different ways to retain water near the soil, said Emily Holbrook, Elle Holbrook’s mother, who advocates for more research funding the university.

"Our state representatives really need to be there for us,” Emily Holbrook said.

As the queen of the citrus industry, Elle Holbrook plans to advocate for the industry by raising the profile of the products with children at elementary schools and through social media.

The citrus industry should be an important symbol of all of Texas, not just the Valley, Emily Holbrook said, arguing that Texas should be recognized as having the best-tasting citrus over Florida and California.

"Georgia has their peaches," she said. “Texas has citrus.”

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

Disclosure: Texas A&M AgriLife, Texas A&M University, Texas Citrus Mutual and USI have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune, a nonprofit, nonpartisan news organization that is funded in part by donations from members, foundations and corporate sponsors. Financial supporters play no role in the Tribune's journalism. Find a complete list of them here.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/19/texas-citrus-industry-water/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

U.S. Rep. Kay Granger, the retiring Fort Worth Republican who has been frequently absent from Congress for months, said in a statement Sunday she has been facing “health challenges.”

"As many of my family, friends, and colleagues have known, I have been navigating some unforeseen health challenges over the past year,” she said. “However, since early September, my health challenges have progressed making frequent travel to Washington both difficult and unpredictable. During this time, my incredible staff has remained steadfast, continuing to deliver exceptional constituent services, as they have for the past 27 years."

Granger, 81, was the first Republican woman elected to represent Texas in Congress, where she has served since 1997. In her statement, she said she was able to return to Washington, D.C. in November to attend meetings and oversee the closure of her office as her final term in office reaches an end. She also attended a ceremony in which her portrait was unveiled to celebrate her 25-year tenure on the House Appropriations Committee.

Granger did not run for reelection this year. She will be replaced by state Rep. Craig Goldman, a Republican who won the race for her seat in November. His term starts when Congress returns to session on Jan. 3.

Granger did not say what her health issues were. Her staff did not immediately respond to questions about why Granger’s health issues were not previously disclosed to the public.

Granger’s last vote in Congress was in July. She was among 29 representatives who did not vote Friday on a critical spending bill to keep the government open, but the measure overwhelmingly passed the House. The Senate gave it final passage Saturday.

The Dallas Morning News reported Sunday that Granger's son, Brandon Granger, said his mother is living in a senior-living facility in Fort Worth and experiencing “dementia issues.”

“It’s been a hard year,” he told the News.

Brandon Granger denied previous reports that his mother was residing in a memory care facility.

Granger previously served as Fort Worth mayor. In Congress, she has served on the influential House Appropriations Committee since 1999. She became chair of the committee in 2022 before stepping down from the role earlier this year.

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/22/texas-kay-granger-health-fort-worth/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said Sunday he sued the National Collegiate Athletic Association, accusing the organization of misleading college sports fans by allowing transgender women to participate in events marketed as women's competitions.

Paxton said the NCAA violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by deceiving fans who want to support sporting events that only include athletes whose female sex was assigned at birth.

Paxton also accused the NCAA of misleading consumers by not identifying which athletes are transgender, and of “jeopardizing the safety and wellbeing of women” by allowing transgender athletes to participate in its sporting events.

“Radical ‘gender theory’ has no place in college sports,” Paxton said in a news release Sunday.

Paxton wants the court to limit the participation of trans athletes in NCAA competitions taking place in Texas or involving Texas teams, or to stop the organization from labeling events as women's sports if they include transgender women.

In a statement, the NCAA did not address the lawsuit’s allegations but said they would continue to support women's sports.

"The Association and its members will continue to promote Title IX, make unprecedented investments in women’s sports and ensure fair competition in all NCAA championships," said NCAA communications director Michelle Brutlag Hosick in a statement.

Paxton’s lawsuit comes just after NCAA President Charlie Baker was grilled by lawmakers during a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing earlier this week over the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sports. Baker later said he is only aware of “less than 10” transgender athletes among the more than 500,000 athletes in NCAA schools.

Many Republicans have eagerly taken up the fight against transgender women’s participation in sports as one of their top priorities in recent years, with many candidates highlighting their opposition in political ads that aired in the leadup to the November elections.

The attention on the issue prompted some Democratic candidates to declare they did not support trans athletes in women's sports. Following President-elect Donald Trump's victory, calls for the Democratic Party to distance itself from socially progressive issues like transgender rights has grown stronger.

As President Joe Biden prepares to leave office, his administration withdrew a proposed rule that would have prevented schools from outright banning transgender athletes under Title IX of the Civil Rights Act, though it would have allowed for some limits. U.S. Department of Education officials said the decision came after receiving tens of thousands of comments “with a broad spectrum of opinions” about the proposed policy change and amid several legal challenges.

Last year, Texas approved a law that bars transgender athletes from participating on college teams that match their gender identity.

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/22/texas-ken-paxton-ncaa-transgender-college-athletes-women-sports/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.

SAN JUAN — A plan, Joaquin Garcia told a crowd of immigrants last week, they must have a plan.

“Who’s going to pick up the kids from school?” Garcia asked. "Payments on the house, car payments, house bills, the property title –– all of that has to be in your plan."

For the estimated thousands of undocumented immigrants living in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley, deportation is a risk they live with every day. That risk has exceptionally increased after Donald Trump won a second term in the White House after spending nearly two years campaigning on the promise of mass deportation.

Garcia is the director of community organizing for La Union del Pueblo Entero, or LUPE, a group that has supported immigrants, farm workers and Hispanic Texans for decades. The meeting last week was part of a "Know Your Rights" campaign that the organization is leading and that echoes similar information sessions that immigrant rights groups across Texas are hosting ahead of Trump’s inauguration.

"We know that President-elect Donald Trump doesn't take office until January 20," Garcia said. "Right now is the best time to prepare."

Asking the crowd to think about those scenarios was not meant to cause fear or panic, Garcia said, but encourage them to create a plan for themselves and their loved ones if they’re ever detained.

"Who is going to be in charge of carrying out your life, so to speak, when you're facing deportation and you're stuck in detention?" Garcia asked again.

Texas is home to about 1.6 million undocumented persons — the second-highest number in the United States behind California –– and the state’s Republican leaders strongly signaled they would readily work with the Trump administration in its deportation efforts.

It was a rainy Friday evening when the group held their first training session. Nonetheless, a crowd of about 50 people showed up to attend the meeting.

Demonstrating what rights they had in certain situations, Garcia and LUPE staff member Marcela Alejandre performed skits depicting different scenarios that undocumented residents could find themselves in such as a traffic stop and being detained for possible deportation.

As those scenarios played out, LUPE staff asked those in the audience to think about what they could do in those situations or how they could avoid them altogether.

Questions lingered among the audience, many of which they raised during the meeting. People raised their hands to ask what information they are required to disclose if they're detained, what legal trouble a citizen could face if they lived with undocumented residents, and whether there were any benefits to self-deportation.

The LUPE staff admittedly didn't have all the answers and urged them to consult with an attorney for guidance. They also reminded them they would have more training sessions with the intention of providing more detailed information.

One undocumented woman in attendance said she's attended LUPE meetings for years and was well aware of her rights. However, she seemed skeptical that the knowledge would save her from deportation.

"The problem is that there are officials that don't care if you're paying insurance or paying taxes, that you have property –– they don't care," she said in Spanish. "They grab you and they take you, even if you know your rights. It just depends on the official you get when they arrest you."

For now, she said, it's a waiting game.

"We really don't know what's going to happen because some people say one thing, other people say another," she said.

Reporting in the Rio Grande Valley is supported in part by the Methodist Healthcare Ministries of South Texas, Inc.

This article originally appeared in The Texas Tribune at https://www.texastribune.org/2024/12/13/texas-mass-deportation-plan-immigrants/.

The Texas Tribune is a member-supported, nonpartisan newsroom informing and engaging Texans on state politics and policy. Learn more at texastribune.org.