The U.S. construction industry is facing a worsening labor shortage due to the Trump administration's hard-line immigration crackdown. With one out of three construction workers being foreign-born, ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) checks and raids have left both authorized and unauthorized workers on edge. The industry said delays in work and soaring expenses are already a reality.
According to U.S. public radio NPR on the 6th (local time), Rurik Palomino, who is in charge of the Theodore Roosevelt Bridge rehabilitation project in Washington, D.C., said, "There is plenty of work, but not enough workers," and added, "ICE checkpoints have been set up on the Baltimore–Washington Parkway, and workers are reluctant to come in." Palomino hires only those with legal status, but said it is common for the workforce to shrink just on rumors of enforcement.
According to the Department of Homeland Security, since the launch of President Trump's second term, ICE has deported 400,000 people, and 1.6 million have voluntarily left the country. In Florida and Minnesota, dozens were arrested in construction site sweeps, and enforcement continued near materials stores in the Los Angeles (LA) area. In a survey by the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), 92% of corporations reported hiring difficulties, and 28% said they suffered direct or indirect harm due to enforcement.
Ken Simonson, AGC chief economist, said, "If a worker is absent even for a day, the schedule stops and expenses rise immediately," adding, "If you can't get the roof up, you can't complete the building." He warned, "If law enforcement tightens further, this is only the beginning."
Sergio Barajas, head of the National Hispanic Construction Alliance, said, "Fear is a bigger problem than the number of raids," adding, "Latino workers are staying home regardless of their registration status." He said some companies remove the signage on their trucks to avoid enforcement.
The National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) estimated that the labor shortage causes about $11 billion in losses every year. NAHB President Jim Tobin said, "The lack of labor was a structural problem even before the crackdowns," adding, "The United States has become a college-centered society and has devalued skilled trades on its own."
Kenny Malik, who has worked in plumbing for 30 years, said, "Immigrants work while risking deportation," adding, "Without them, America's construction industry doesn't function." Malik supports Trump but added, "If the government takes workers away, the industry will collapse."
Nick Theodore, director of the Center for Urban Economic Development at the University of Illinois, said, "Undocumented immigrants were already the revenue base of the construction industry," analyzing that "enforcement is deepening the shortage of skilled workers and the skills gap." Mark Erlich, a researcher at Harvard Law School, said, "Falling unionization rates and political crackdowns are simultaneously increasing wage stagnation and management uncertainty."
Palomino said, "The solution lies in expanding legal visas," adding, "I came to the United States with a single bag, but now three families work at my company. This is the real American dream."
Economists noted that while mass deportation policies may rally political supporters in the short term, over the long term they could boomerang by delaying dwelling supply due to construction labor gaps and by amplifying inflationary pressures. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI) analyzed that if 1.4 million construction workers disappear, productivity losses could trigger a chain reduction of up to 860,000 jobs.