America
Live With Bobby Pulido, The Tejano Music Star Running For The United States Congress
In a packed Auditorio Metropolitano in Puebla, filled with heads topped by cowboy hats, a candidate for the United States Congress takes the stage. He is not there to deliver a campaign rally. Here, nearly a thousand miles south of the Texas-Mexico border, he is simply Bobby Pulido, a two-time Latin Grammy winner and an icon of Tejano and regional Mexican music.
The singer is also, according to an internal poll, the clear favorite this Tuesday in the Democratic primary to decide who will face Republican Representative MĂłnica de la Cruz in Novemberâs midterm elections in Texasâs 15th Congressional District, in the Rio Grande Valley, which stretches along the southeastern tip of the state. That Democratic stronghold turned red for the first time in its history, and Pulido is determined to paint it blue again as part of a national wave to return control of the House to his party. The country is watching the contest closely as a barometer for the midterms nationwide.
âTonight I will just feed off of the people. Itâs like riding a bike; you donât forget,â Pulido says backstage, already dressed in his silver jacket and black hat, shortly before beginning the concert on his Por la Puerta Grande tour, which signals his imminent retirement from music. âI havenât sung in so long… Iâve been campaigning,â he adds, explaining that he has thoroughly traveled each of the 11 counties that make up the congressional district he hopes to win. His approach, he says, is grassroots politicsâface-to-face contact with voters.
The first objective is to defeat Ada CuĂ©llar, an emergency room physician who launched her campaign with little institutional backing from the party and on a platform positioned further to the left than Pulidoâs. She has attacked him mainly on social media over his ties to the party establishment and over past inappropriate or sexist posts.
He has not shied away, but neither has he engaged in personal attacks. Pulido sees his connections to established members of Congress as an asset rather than a liability, arguing that the ability to build alliances on Capitol Hill â including bipartisan ones â is essential to advancing legislation. He dismisses criticism over past posts as desperate attempts to smear him, saying they lose their impact once voters meet him in person. Aware that he starts with an advantage as a well-known figure in the district â and buoyed by polls that give him 68% support, compared with 19% for CuĂ©llar and 13% undecided â he expects his grassroots campaign to intensify between now and November, with concerts becoming increasingly sporadic.
That does not mean his concerts are devoid of a political tint â or at least, it is hard not to see them that way in the current climate. This Saturday, just before Pulido took the stage, the opening sequence of the music video for his 2010 song AlgĂșn DĂa played on the screen. At a construction site, Pulido boasts that thanks to his girlfriend he now has his âpapers.â A coworker replies: âYeah, man, but with the way the law is these days, you know what? If you look Mexican, theyâre going to stop you just to check you out.â
Pulido then climbs onto a stack of pallets serving as a makeshift stage to deliver an impassioned defense of the American dream, as if he were already a politician. At that moment, the singer steps out in his cowboy boots and begins performing live before five thousand fans who couldnât care less about his political ambitions.
An emerging star
But politics has been part of his life for a long time. Before launching his singing career in the mid-1990s, Pulido â the son of Roberto, also a Tejano musician â studied political science in San Antonio. Now, three decades later, Politico describes him as a ârising Democratic star.â He does not feel so tightly bound to the party, however. âPeople are disillusioned with both parties. They want to hear what each candidate has to say, not what the party tells them they should think,â he explains. And for him, the biggest motivation is immigration. âWe need to fix this issue because I feel like the Latino community in general has been a political football thatâs been kicked back and forth.â
That perspective has a lot to do with the place that raised him: the Valley â as the southeastern Texas region from San Antonio to the border is known â where the population is more than 90% Latino. Though it had long been Democratic, it is far more conservative than the partyâs national strongholds in New York and California, and over the past decade, it began voting for Trumpism, driven by economic concerns and culture wars. Now, Pulido says, many regret it.
âThe way the government has been staging things with ICE has substantially affected our economy. Itâs hurt tourism, which depended on Mexicans crossing the border to shop, and theyâre not coming anymore. Theyâre afraid of being approached by men with guns and covered faces. A lot of people voted for Trump because they thought he was going to help the economy, and now heâs making it worse.â
The candidate understands that position, but what he feels is anger at Trumpâs immigration policy. âI have a very big problem with their quotas [for deportations]. What theyâre doing in order to meet those quotas is going after the lowest-hanging fruit. They go to construction sites and take people who donât have any criminal record. I have a huge problem with racial profiling and with profiling based on language, which the Supreme Court has now allowed them to do. I donât have a problem with enforcement, but how you do it is very important. When I go on social media and see them making fun of the people theyâre deporting, it pisses me off. And it pisses off my community too, because it doesnât look serious when they put rap music to a video and theyâre laughing. I canât help but think, âfuck them.ââ
In this context, Pulidoâs campaign is being described as a gauge of the electorateâs mood. It is a smaller-scale version of the parallel contest between Democrats James Talarico, a more moderate figure, and Jasmine Crockett, from the partyâs more progressive wing, who are battling to become their partyâs Senate nominee in Texas.
They would face whoever prevails on the Republican side â another race with national implications â where John Cornyn, a conventional Republican who has served in Washington since 2002, is up against Ken Paxton, the stateâs controversial attorney general and an ally of President Trump; and Wesley Hunt, a House member who falls ideologically between the other two, though he is far less well known.
On his more local stage, Pulido is compared to Talarico, a state representative and pastor-in-training known for his viral speeches on the House floor and for combining his religious background with a progressive agenda centered on public education, gun reform, and social justice. Some have described him as timid, but Pulido rejects that idea outright: for him, it is precisely what allows for building broad coalitions.
âI donât believe thatâs the proper framing. At the end of the day, it is one thing to have your political stance, but you still have to go and negotiate and convince other people about your ideas in Congress. I donât think being moderate is being timid at all. I mean, they call me âmoderate,â but moderate on what? On social issues, cultural issues? On the economy? There are so many different levels from which you can judge someone,â says the candidate, who supports comprehensive immigration reform that has languished for decades, backs assistance for low-income families, but is personally opposed to abortion â while believing it is an individual decision and should remain legal.
Regarding the attack by the United States and Israel on Iran, launched less than 24 hours before his performance in Puebla, Pulido is clear about his position: it is an illegal action, and any U.S. military deployment must be approved by Congress. However, he does not believe it will weigh heavily on his voters; it is an issue too distant for Texans, unless it triggers an energy crisis that drives up prices and worsens an already stubbornly high inflation that has been steadily eating into peopleâs wallets.
By contrast, a factor that will loom much larger is the fact that he is running in a district that was very recently redrawn by the state legislature to benefit Republicans. Pulido, however, turns that argument on its head and believes it actually works in his favor. âSixty-five percent of the district is new. That takes away a lot of her [De la Cruzâs] advantages as the incumbent, because they donât know her. So sheâs going to have to go out and campaign hard â and Iâve already been going there. On another note, they went by Trumpâs 2024 numbers. In 2022, that district wasnât as red as they think it is. Not even close. And that was in a Biden midterm, which usually favors the opposing party. Weâre going to have the wind at our backs,â he says confidently.
A little later, back on stage, the concert turns personal, and politics seems forgotten. Roberto Pulido, his father, has come out to sing a couple of songs with his son. Bobby celebrates his dadâs birthday with an emotional rendition of Las Mañanitas and a song especially dedicated to him.
It is hard to imagine Pulido smiling as much on the campaign trail as he does on stage. Until, in a brief moment of silence, someone in the audience who has been singing all night shouts, âCongressman!â Then, the singer removes his hat.
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Cerro Rico (âRich Mountainâ) is located near the Bolivian city of PotosĂ. It once produced up to 80% of the silver of the Viceroyalty of Peru (1542-1824) and as much as 60% of global production during certain periods of the 17th and 18th centuries. But Indigenous labor was insufficient to extract the thousands of tons of ore flowing from the mountain. And so, the Spanish Crownâs solution was to bring enslaved Africans to the territory, using the transatlantic system that had been established by the Portuguese years earlier.
The rulers of the Spanish colony benefited from the fact that the new captives already had experience in gold mining. By 1630, some 5,000 Black people â primarily from Angola, the Congo and Guinea â were living in PotosĂ, part of present-day Bolivia.
A series of 17th-century public records, recently included by UNESCO in the Memory of the World Programme, document the inhumane conditions that these forced migrants were subjected to. These conditions included working in metal-smelting furnaces that operated 24 hours a day, seven days a week; being placed in shackles and stocks, which were used by slaveowners to restrict movement; sleeping in pallets lined with sheepskin that served as beds; and covering themselves with numerous blankets to mitigate the frigid Andean climate. Laboring at over 13,000 feet above sea level, the enslaved peoples were generally unaccustomed to such temperatures.
The series, which consists of 27 manuscripts, is entitled Public deeds about the African slavery trade between Buenos Aires and the Villa Imperial of PotosĂ (1635 â 1636). The documents are preserved in the former National Mint of Bolivia, in PotosĂ, which is now a museum. The mint was the institution that converted the silver produced during the colonial period into circulating currency.
The institutionâs director, Luis Arancibia, highlights the multidisciplinary studies that can be conducted using these archival records: âTheyâre a primary source for analyzing trade routes, intermediary networks, notarial practices, historical demography, Afro-Bolivian studies and processes of forced migration.â
The history of the Afro-Bolivian nation â like that of other Black communities in the region â has a complex origin. And this group is a minority compared to that of neighboring countries: while there are some 30,000 Afro-Bolivians, there are, for example, 815,000 Afro-Ecuadorians. The history, however, remains just as ancient.
Juan Angola is a historian from La Paz, Bolivia. Heâs of Angolan and Makonde descent. He describes the work of his ancestors in the furnaces where silver bars were smelted, and in the ore amalgamation plants: âThere were up to 13 workers per furnace. They covered the windows with leather and had to work by candlelight. There was no difference between day and night. Shifts could last between 15 and 20 hours.â The prisoners received daily rations of bread and beef. On holidays, they were given fish.
Angola details the other major task performed by slaves in the Andean region: cleaning the ore in the mills. âMen and women used their feet to mix and stomp on the mixture of ground ore and mercury, damaging their toes. Many of them were left maimed by the metal.â
Mining production declined drastically in the final stage of the Spanish American colonies. And, by the 19th century, the Black population had migrated to the agricultural estates in the region north of La Paz, known as the Yungas. This region â a transition zone between the high Andes and the subtropical valleys â became the refuge and home of the Afro-Bolivian community.
The lush, green cloud forests are home to plantations that grow cassava, rice, bananas and coca leaves. For much of Boliviaâs history, this area was the exclusive property of large landholders. Wealthy landowners could own up to 30 enslaved people on each estate. And despite Boliviaâs independence in 1825, the situation of Indigenous and Black peoples â who made up the base of the social pyramid â didnât change much. âThe first constitution â [which was drafted by SimĂłn BolĂvar, in 1826] â already addressed the abolition of slavery. The article, however, was unclear: it left the matter to the discretion of the landowners. Clearly, the landowners didnât want to lose their workforce, which [would have] cost them dearly [âŠ] There was no freedom with independence, only a change of leadership,â Angola explains.
Years later, in December of 1829, the Bolivian National Congress determined that, by law, enslaved Afro-descendants could purchase their freedom âat the same price as their last sale.â The attempt at total abolition only came in 1851, during the government of Manuel Isidoro Belzu, who was considered to be the first Bolivian president who had support from the masses.
It would be more than a decade before Black people achieved their freedom in the United States, and more than two decades in Brazil. However, the reality for Afro-Bolivians changed little after 1851: as they were released into freedom without economic support, entire Black families continued to do free work for landowners four days a week, as a form of payment to obtain small plots of land.
Access to citizenship and full freedom, for both Afro-Bolivians and the vast majority of Bolivians, came with the National Revolution of 1952. Among the changes that were enacted, the agrarian reform legally transformed Afro-Bolivians into small landowners with economic autonomy. But despite the law being passed, their cultural and social integration remained a pending issue. Bolivian society, which is predominantly Indigenous, tends to be distrustful of what it doesnât know about, or doesnât find similar to the dominant culture.
Juan Carlos BalliviĂĄn, a lawyer, activist and founder of the National Afro-Bolivian Council (CONAFRO), recalls his childhood in the 1980s, growing up in the Yungas region: âWe lived together to protect ourselves from the racism and discrimination. We went to school together [and] we left home together, because racism was rampant and was practiced not only against us, but also against our parents.â
Dance â the Afro-Bolivian saya â was the primary tool for making their Black heritage visible in Bolivia. To the rhythm of drums and cuanchas (a type of rattle), the saya dance began to spread from the provinces to the big cities.
For Angola, however, itâs time for his community to move into the political sphere: âWe must join forces to achieve our common goal: for Afro-Bolivians to be visible, because the state remains structurally racist, as does Bolivian society.â
The 2009 Constitution is the first to recognize the Afro-Bolivian nation as part of the country: they are mentioned in four articles. And branches of CONAFRO have been established in several cities, while members of the community have been elected to the Legislative Assembly, or have gained positions in other institutions. However, according to Angola, these have not always been spaces where Afro-Bolivians have attempted to advocate for their community.
He elaborates on his point: âThe saya has undoubtedly become a kind of symbol for us. The other side of the coin is that it has overshadowed other efforts and contributions, such as our participation in the [Bolivian War of Independence, from 1809 until 1825]. A voice has been created through voices, drums and rhythms⊠but today, the demands are for spaces of power.â
Translated by Avik Jain Chatlani
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America
ICE Used Arrest Quotas And Surveillance Technology In Oregon Immigration Raids, Rare Court Testimony Shows
Rare sworn testimony from federal agents revealed that Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers in Oregon were instructed to meet daily arrest quotas and use technological tools to identify potential âtargetsâ during immigration raids, according to The Guardian.
The information emerged during hearings for a class-action lawsuit filed by the immigrant rights organization Innovation Law Lab, which challenges the practice of detaining people without a warrant or probable cause. The case compelled agents to testify in court, offering a rare glimpse into internal tactics that are not typically made public.
During a hearing held in December, an agent identified as âJBâ testified that his team received a verbal order to make eight arrests per day during operations in the state. The group consisted of between nine and 12 officers. When the plaintiffsâ attorney asked him if he had met the quota, the agent replied, ââI made as many arrests as I could, as long as it was lawful.â
The operations were linked to a federal campaign known internally as Operation Black Rose, which took place in the Portland area last year and, according to data from the Department of Homeland Security, resulted in more than 1,200 arrests as of mid-December.
The testimony also revealed for the first time in court the use of an app called Elite, described by the agent as a tool similar to Google Maps, which shows the estimated concentration of people with an âimmigration nexusâ in certain areas. As he explained, the app helps locate areas where there is a higher probability of finding people subject to detention. However, he acknowledged that the data is not always accurate. âThe app could say 100%, and itâs wrong. The person doesnât live there. And so itâs not accurate. Itâs a tool that we use that gives you probability, but thereâs ⊠no such thing as 100%,â he stated during the hearing.
The use of this tool was evident during an operation conducted on October 30 in Woodburn, south of Portland, where officers followed a van transporting farmworkers to their workplace. The officers smashed the vehicleâs windows and detained its seven occupants. During that same operation, another officer used a facial recognition app called Mobile Fortify to identify a worker who was detained and transferred to a detention center in Washington State. She was later released.
Federal Judge Mustafa Kasubhai, who reviewed the case, harshly criticized the tactics used, noting that tools like Elite could create inaccurate information and lead to the detention of people who are in the country legally.
As the case proceeds through the courts, federal data released this week shows the scale of the increase in immigration detentions in the U.S. Northwest during 2025. An analysis by the University of Washingtonâs Center for Human Rights found that Oregon recorded 1,655 immigration arrests last year, more than in the previous three years combined. The increase was particularly notable in the final months of the year.
Between January and September 2025, monthly detentions in the state remained below 100, but in October and November they exceeded 400 per month, according to an analysis based on official ICE forms used to initiate deportation proceedings. The researchers noted that the Portland metropolitan area was one of the main hubs of that activity. âWe were frankly blown away by the scale of the arrests in the Portland area from October to December of last year,â Phil Neff, the university centerâs research coordinator, told reporters.
Other reports have also documented a sharp increase in arrests during that period. Data collected by researchers and analyzed by Oregon Public Broadcasting indicates that in some counties in the Portland area, arrests skyrocketed by more than 600% after President Donald Trump described the city as âwar-torn.â The figures show that Multnomah, Washington, and Marion counties recorded the largest increases during the fall of 2025.
Attorneys and civil rights organizations argue that the pressure to increase arrests may have contributed to questionable practices during operations. Stephen Manning, executive director of the Innovation Law Lab and one of the lawyers behind the lawsuit, stated that court testimony shows how arrest quotas can influence the way officers conduct their operations. âThe law is an impediment to the quotas,â he told The Guardian.
The lawsuit seeks to put a stop to arrests without a warrant and to determine whether the tactics used by agents violated constitutional protections against unreasonable searches and seizures. Meanwhile, investigators warn that the available data may even underestimate the actual number of arrests, since the records analyzed reflect only a fraction of all ICE detentions.
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