CAMPUS: Turning Point USA opens chapter on TAMIU campus
By Sean Jimenez
Assistant Editor
Published Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2026
On Jan. 25, a post in support of Immigration and Customs Enforcement published on the local Turning Point USA chapter Instagram page. From the 422 comments, only 192 likes surfaced, as of Tuesday, Feb. 17.
“We stand with ICE agents who serve and protect our nation,” one of the slides read on the post. The other slide went into more details about the organization’s support for law enforcement agencies.
In this undated photo, Turning Point USA’s TAMIU chapter holds a meeting on campus.
Most of the resonses are negative, such as one that reads, “We are students in an international school on a border city. Make your ridiculous ‘beliefs’ make sense!!!!” by username honestleenvm on Instagram. Other posts simply included a reactionary image.
Back on Sept. 8, 2025, an official Turning Point USA chapter, in collaboration with Texas A&M College Republicans, opened on the Texas A&M International University campus.
Turning Point USA, a nationwide right-wing nonprofit organization founded by Charlie Kirk, advocates for conservatism on college and high school campuses.
The TAMIU chapter comes at a controversial time, around the time of the fatal shooting of Kirk on Sept. 10, 2025, while beginning his Turning Point USA tour of college campuses known as The American Comeback Tour.
Before TAMIU’s official chapter opened, its first six members hosted a candlelit vigil in remembrance on Sept. 15 in the parking lot of Iglesia Cristiana Misericordia.
Jesus Conrad Galaviz, president of TAMIU’s Turning Point chapter, said they’ve exploded in membership since the event.
“We’ve been growing everyday,” he said. “When you go from 6 to 60 [members] within three months, that tells you something.”
Galaviz revealed that before Kirk’s assasination, there were plans to invite the conservative voice to TAMIU.
“We were in contact with some of the field reps from Turning Point,” he said. “The idea was to bring Charlie to campus in February. He wanted to do something [in] a border town.”
Turning Point USA and Kirk’s conservative political beliefs have garnered controversy, leading students on campus to voice their concerns.
Juan Antonio Morina, a freshman history major and geography minor, said he finds the blooming organization “concerning.”
“He spent his whole life degrading the people below him,” Morina said of Kirk.
Kirk frequently argued against abortion, LGBTQ+ rights, gun control and he even argued that white supremacy doesn’t exist.
He also promoted “the great replacement theory,” a far right conspiracy theory that believes immigrants are replacing the white population in America.
“He calls it ‘an immigrant invasion,’” Morina said. “The people who came on ships with arms and plans to conquer were people of his color, not the people of mine.”
Galaviz rejected the idea of students finding the organization worrying.
“I don’t understand how people are concerned,” he said. “[If] you like it, join; if you don’t, don’t get involved.
“We’re not trying to take over the University,” he said. We’re just here to create a safe space for conservative students.”
