Trump's Mexican-hatred obsession, coupled with the Texas GOP's quest to ethnically cleanse their state, has already ruined any chance of a reasonable recovery timeline.
Houston has been a particularly hard-hit target for ICE raids. Thousands of undocumented immigrants--with no criminal record whatsoever--have been arrested since Donald Trump's Jan. 26 executive order. On top of that, the Texas GOP passed the "Papers Please" law, which was scheduled to take effect Sept 1. (It has since been blocked by a federal judge but Texas Gov. Abbott has vowed to appeal--because that's the most important thing right now.)
Now, the entire city of Houston is underwater in what has become the largest natural disaster in our nation's history. Large portions of the city will need to be completely rebuilt.
Turns out there are not enough available construction workers to rebuild Houston.
The National Association of Home Builders reports that 77 percent of builders are facing a shortage of framing crews while 61 percent are grappling with a shortage of drywall installation workers and 45 percent report a shortage of weatherization workers.
What has made this monumental task unfeasible is the fact that, according to several studies, half of the construction workforce is undocumented. These workers perform all the construction jobs that there is currently a shortage of skilled labor: dry-walling, framing, wiring, and plumbing.
Unfortunately, fearing arrest, many have already fled their jobs in Texas and either went to more rational states, or back to Mexico. Now that Texas has legalized harassment of brown people, it’s unlikely they will return.
Jay Deleon, who runs a small construction firm, said without migrant labor, a rebuild would be “impossible”. Several of his undocumented employees have already left.
Stan Marek, the CEO of a large construction firm, didn’t mince words:
“It’s a crisis,” Marek said. “We are looking at several thousand homes that have flood damage. There is no way the existing (legal) workforce can make a dent in it.”
A Tulane study found that close to 100,000 undocumented workers were critical in rebuilding the Gulf Coast region after Hurricane Katrina. Texas is going to require a massive migration of workers if they have any hope of rebuilding within the next few years. The GOP leadership should be welcoming them with open arms, but instead, they are still targeting them for harrassment and arrest.
Hard working men and women, who would otherwise be getting a major city in Texas back on its feet, will be unavailable. This will lead to unnecessary, prolonged suffering for all its weary residents.
Congratulations Trump’s GOP: you built that. Looks like it’s the only thing that’s getting built anytime soon.