Sharyl Attkisson

It’s a focal point of national discussion: online hate, misinformation, and what constitutes each. While many Americans still consider the First Amendment near-

I reported on my television program that Amish community in US, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, had rejected masking, vaccines, isolation, testing.

I reported on my television program that Amish community in US, Lancaster, Pennsylvania, had rejected masking, vaccines, isolation, testing.

The flow of illegal migration along the southern, U.S.-Mexico border is roughly 95% less than it was during the Biden administration.

The latest SharylAttkisson poll finds 54% say they never trusted AI or trust it less than a year ago, while 15% say they trust it more.

Sharyl Attkisson on "Full Measure" investigates the economic impact of President Trump securing the border. "Millions have left or been deported. And last year saw the largest drop in violent crime on record, but there's one impact you may not have heard much about," she said. "In American border towns that rode the illegal immigration surge. Jobs are now left unfilled, and checkout lines and city budgets are emptying out" "Built on a broken system, the economies of some border towns are now dealing with fewer customers, thinner workforces, and tighter budgets, trying to find new ways to adjust to a national policy shift," Attkisson said. Today, we report from Texas on the economic slump that's following the boom. Grocery store owner Felix Chavez has spent the better part of five decades building this business in the small border town of Edinburg, Texas. How many stores do you have now? FELIX CHAVEZ: We have eight stores, eight grocery stores and one convenience store. SHARYL ATTKISSON: Each year, he says, sales have climbed. That is, until the current crackdown on illegal immigration. What have you noticed, if anything? FELIX CHAVEZ: The last year has really impacted our sales. We have seen drops anywhere between 10 to 12%. Also, the labor force, where we used to employ around 550 employees, right now we have dropped down to about 450. SHARYL ATTKISSON: Because you don't have people to hire, or you don't need as many people? FELIX CHAVEZ: We don't need as many people. And also, there's a labor decrease. You know, there's not as many people available applying, or people are just not applying, or they're afraid to work. They're afraid to go out. But we have experienced a shortage in the labor force. "The hard truth is a sizable chunk of the economy in America's border towns rode the wave of the illegal immigrant surge, and now they're feeling the pain," Attkisson reported. "Five years ago, Sister Norma Pimentel showed us the Catholic charity shelter in the border town of McAllen, Texas. It was bursting at the seams." SISTER NORMA PIMENTEL: What you see here in this room, which is the main room that we have, is in this area right here is where the new arrivals... I would say maybe in 2019, very close to a thousand people a day. SHARYL ATTKISSON: Today, the same building is empty. Was it a sudden drop-off or a gradual slow? SISTER NORMA PIMENTEL: It was very sudden, you know. SHARYL ATTKISSON: She says Catholic Charities is back to its pre-crisis rhythm, assisting Meals on Wheels and helping illegal immigrants within the community. But money is tight. During the Biden years and the big illegal immigration surge, local Catholic Charities got more than $2 billion in taxpayer money. Most of that's gone, and private donations are down sharply. SISTER NORMA PIMENTEL: At the peak of the time when people were coming in great numbers, like in 2019, and throughout the whole, I would say, 10, 11 years that we were since 2014, so many people from everywhere were reaching out to be part of and helping out. And so we were receiving a lot of donations, a lot of contributions to support this effort to help humanity, you know. And so that is obviously not the evidence anymore in the news that this is happening. So the numbers, the percentage of people actually donating, has diminished a lot. Attkisson continued: "For border towns, the economic ripples extend far into the community. Richard Cortez is an elected official in Hidalgo County, Texas. RICHARD CORTEZ: They're losing enrollment. It's estimated that in my county, we have at least about, I want to say, 10 to 15, maybe as high as 20% of our people are here that are not legal citizens. So I knew it would have a huge impact. SHARYL ATTKISSON: Go down the short list with a brief description of some of the sectors or areas where you think there's been an impact. RICHARD CORTEZ: Well, we'll start with construction. Many of our construction workers are here as non-citizens that are working. And today, you know, we're starting to see a big impact of that. So construction was one hit the hardest. Our agricultural community, you know, our economy here was largely agricultural-based, agro-based. So you have to harvest your products. Many of the farmers just didn't want to put any crops in the ground because they were concerned about harvesting those crops. Hospitality, you know, the people that clean the homes, or the rooms, work in the kitchen, things of that nature. They were having problems hiring people. Just small businesses, you know, small businesses that only have four or five employees. Maybe two of them were here illegally. So now that you lose two, you don't have a full load of people. So it's really having a very harsh time for us. SHARYL ATTKISSON: The massive tech center in nearby Donna, Texas, was constructed during the peak. It covered 185,000 square feet on 40 acres of city-owned property. This is what it looks like today. In its heyday, about 700 Border Patrol agents worked here. They processed more than 600,000 illegal immigrants from 90 countries. The economic impact was significant. The lease and utilities alone provided the city of Donna with over $1 million a year, about 8% of its total budget. "Jared Ashby is the top Border Patrol official in charge of the Rio Grande Valley sector in South Texas," Attkisson continued, JARED ASHBY: At one time, the U.S. government, specifically the U.S. Border Patrol, contracted out numerous facilities across the country to help detain and then process illegal aliens. Now that the flow has reduced by 95%, where we used to hold thousands or up to 10,000-plus in different holdings across the U.S., now we're at hundreds. So a 95% reduction. There is no longer a need for those detention facilities or those temporary facilities like the Donna facility. SHARYL ATTKISSON: I assume all of the contractors that were helping and making money by servicing these facilities, those contracts have ended, I suppose. I mean, that's money that now isn't going to them. JARED ASHBY: Yes, ma'am, that is correct. So again, without the need of those facilities, some of those facilities were in the tens of millions of dollars per month for the taxpayers. And that is a savings for U.S. taxpayers now. SHARYL ATTKISSON: That's an important point. Overall, analysts say the tightened southern border has delivered a huge windfall for American taxpayers. Some estimates put the total number of forced and self-deportations under the current Trump administration at more than 3 million. Nobody can say for sure, but savings are estimated at around $30 billion a year, counting the costs of prison, education, health care, enforcement, and more. As much of America cheers on the changes, some in border communities are wondering what's next. On the other side, there is widespread support in much of America for cracking down on illegal immigration. So what are your thoughts on that, sort of balancing the interests and understanding the people who have security concerns and other worries? RICHARD CORTEZ: So if we have a mixed bag of immigrants, some are good and some are bad, then I will ask the question: Do you want to keep the good ones and get rid of the bad ones? That makes sense to me. So to me, that's the process we need to go through. Out of the people that are here already, which ones do we want to keep and which ones do we want to get rid of? And I think that's something that Congress needs to be doing. And that's where comprehensive immigration reform needs to come in. They're the ones that make the rules. SHARYL ATTKISSON: Is this the new normal? Will everybody adjust? FELIX CHAVEZ: Well, we hope to someday, you know, go back to normality. But we understand also that we might just have to get used to the idea that it might not come back, and just have to be better prepared, you know, to keep up.

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Full Measure investigates Turning Point USA's growing influence in Republican politics, and its role in the 2026 midterms.

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