For now, Mr. Abbott’s decree is without force — a federal judge last week issued a preliminary injunction blocking Mr. Trump’s executive order, but the administration is expected to appeal the ruling.

Here in Amarillo, which for a time took in more refugees per capita than any other Texas city, few share the governor’s alarm over refugees, and those who do have a far more nuanced view. They have long lived with refugees, not as abstract political talking points, but as neighbors.

Many conservatives in Amarillo express support for Mr. Abbott’s stance on refugees but have no harsh words for the people who have joined their city, some of whom they have invited into their homes and tried to help with donations of time and money.

Two nonprofit groups — Refugee Services of Texas and Catholic Charities of the Texas Panhandle — resettled and assisted nearly 7,000 refugees in Amarillo and nearby cities from 2007 through 2017. Refugee admissions have dropped sharply since Mr. Trump took office; only about 200 have come in since then.

Amarillo — a flat, wind-battered and majority-white city of 200,000 — has become the Queens of the Texas High Plains.