News from rural America.

The immigration crackdown in Minnesota has repercussions for Somalis statewide, rural Wisconsinites say they're blindsided by plans for massive AI data centers and opponents of a mega transmission line through Texas' Hill Country are alarmed by its route.

TRANSCRIPT

For the Daily Yonder and Public News Service, this is the news from rural America.

President Trump promised to secure the southern border and deport immigrants who've committed violent crimes.

While border crossings are down, aggressive ice tactics and fatal shootings in Minneapolis are sparking outrage.

The crackdown also has repercussions for the Somali community, which Trump has called garbage, with accusations of financial fraud.

Pablo Obregon is the director of community growth in Wilmer, two hours west of the Twin Cities, where 3,500 Somali migrants live.

The fear, the anxiety, the uncertainty is present, and that affects the mental health of the family, the children, parents.

The majority of Somali Americans are U.S. citizens, but even those with full legal status are staying home for fear of violence.

Obregon says parents are scared for their children.

The response is parents don't send their kids to school the rest of the week.

Rural Wisconsin is becoming a hot spot in the data center construction race.

Julia Tilton reports.

Developers of the massive AI campuses gravitate to low-cost land and state tax incentives.

But the scale and secrecy of some projects is catching locals off guard.

Menominee resident Blaine Halverson says he was shocked by how much was being planned behind closed doors.

All of a sudden I was activated.

And what really activated me was how far along this was and that the public was just finding out.

Elected officials argue the projects will bring employment and eventually boost tax revenue.

But former White House tech policy advisor Assad Ramzanali says the tax breaks that entice construction prioritize huge corporations over rural communities.

When the most well-resourced companies in the history of the world are behind these data centers, that feels particularly unfair.

I'm Julia Tilton.

Data centers are one reason West Texas needs more electricity.

But the state-approved route for one massive transmission line has residents in shock.

The 350-mile Howard Solstice Extra High Voltage Line threatens family ranches and pristine river basins.

Plus, Utopia resident Jada Jo Smith says the plan includes no substations, meaning communities will bear the ecosystem damage without any benefits.

We do not get any of that energy.

The hill country just becomes the superhighway.

Construction means 200-foot wide easements, 160-foot tall towers, and excavation deep enough to threaten the water table.

Romy Swanson with the Devil's River Conservancy says the project undermines Val Verde County's efforts to preserve the landscape, even as they do need to make the grid more reliable.

And we kind of recognize and honor that while at the same time saying we can do this in a way that looks towards something more balanced. as opposed to exploitable.

For the Daily Yonder and Public News Service, I'm Roz Brown.

For more rural stories, visit dailyyonder.com.