Anti-immigration zealotry is killing the construction industry
Politico reports that construction executives have recently held multiple meetings with the White House and Congress to discuss how immigration busts on job sites and in the community as a whole are scaring away employees. Thus making it more expensive to build homes in a market desperate for new supply. And (reading the subtext), making it more difficult for builders to make a buck.
Home builders rely on Latino labor. The administration’s policies are forcing Latinos — the undocumented, the properly visa’ed, and even citizens — to wonder if a paycheck is worth the risk of detention in an ICE camp and deportation to a foreign hell hole. This divergence of interests has forced builders to beg the administration to stop its reign of terror.
The construction industry is, quite understandably, trying to protect its profits. But their argument is not just financial. They have tried to get an inflexible administration to change course by warning Trump’s zealots that their current course leads to political perdition.
South Texas is hard hit
South Texas construction execs are particularly sensitive to the mood of Hispanic workers. Overall, the construction industry relies on immigrants. Its workers are 30% foreign-born. In Texas, the number reaches 40%.
Democrats recently believed Texas was a flippable state. At least on the national level. In 2018, Beto O’Rourke came within 2.6% of upsetting incumbent Senator Ted Cruz. However, in 2024, Ted Cruz saw his margin return to 8.5%. And Trump won the state by 14%. In large part because of a traditional voting bloc, Hispanic Americans shifted significantly to the right.
The right celebrated a new status quo in American politics. Hispanics, they thought, had woken up to the ‘reality’ that Democrats were lost to pronoun politics while Republicans actually cared about pocketbooks. What a difference a year makes.
Trump may have campaigned on an immigration push that focused on the worst of the worst. But when words changed to implementation, the reality was not as advertised. Brown-skinned people with unapproved accents were targeted by masked and anonymous agents whose behavior reminded many of the Nazi Brown Shirts.
The construction industry begs DC for relief
The ramifications of this were clearly spelled out by Mario Guerrero, the CEO of the South Texas Builders Association. He travelled to DC last week with other industry executives to meet with the White House and GOP Representatives. He begged the administration to stop throwing grit into the gears of the homebuilding industry. To get their attention, Guerrero presented a doomsday scenario:
“I told [lawmakers] straight up: South Texas will never be red again.”
Let’s note that Guerrero did not help his cause by voting for Trump. However, Mario has company. Polls show that many 2024 Trump voters are now whining about their choice. It’s too bad they didn’t do their research before casting their ballot. It’s not as if Trump is acting differently now from the way he always has.
Builders, of all people, should have been aware that Trump has a history of stiffing his subcontractors. Why they thought he would change his spots at the age of 77 is anyone’s guess.
Henry Cuellar (D-TX) summed up the thought process of these rueful MAGAs.
“They started off with, ‘hey, we were all Trump supporters, and we thought he was going to secure the border and then kick out criminals, we just never thought that they were going to be coming after our folks, our workers, on that.
They’re builders, contractors, lumber companies, cement companies, in the finance part of it. That type of ripple effect has hurt their economy. Not only individuals, but their economy.”
Predictably, the White House and congressional Republicans greeted the bad news with happy talk. Rep. Monica De La Cruz (R-TX) blathered to Politico:
“I will continue to focus on what matters: delivering common-sense policy solutions for the hard-working immigrants who strengthen our communities and making homeownership affordable for all Americans.”
“Continue to”? This seems to meet the classic definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over, expecting different results.
The Administration also continued its tradition of never admitting a mistake. White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson offered this pablum:
“There is no shortage of American minds and hands to grow our labor force, and President Trump’s agenda to create jobs for American workers represents this Administration’s commitment to capitalizing on that untapped potential while delivering on our mandate to enforce our immigration laws.”
It doesn’t take a logician to point out that if there is indeed “no shortage of American minds and hands to grow our labor force,” then construction executives wouldn’t be in DC begging the administration to leave its current workforce alone.
A simple solution
Bearing all of this in mind, it is clear that builders have only one sensible option. Vote Democratic. Anything else is nothing but reloading and firing multiple more shots into your own foot.
