Some building industry leaders say that while they believe the visa cap should be much higher, the issue should not be used to derail immigration reform. "I don't think 15,000 even comes close to what the demand [for immigrant construction workers] will be," says David Jones, president and CEO of the Arizona Construction Association. "But we need to look at the bigger picture. We need to ask, what's right for America? And the answer is comprehensive immigration reform," even if legislative details such as the visa cap for construction are far from ideal, he says.

Jones says Congress should approve an immigration bill this summer and then undertake a detailed analysis of what the future skilled and unskilled labor needs of the building industry will be and whether a construction-related visa cap in the new law should be adjusted upward to reflect that.

"We have to realistically project … what demand will be and develop a program" both to encourage U.S. workers to train for the trades and to allow sufficient numbers of immigrant workers to fill remaining needs, Jones says.

CRAWFORD

David Crawford, president and CEO at Phoenix-based Sundt Construction and co-founder of the Real Arizona Coalition, a moderate immigration-reform group, agrees. "There's a dire shortage of skilled craftsmen," he says. "I'd like to see the cap increased or eliminated," but doing so could lead some pro-labor legislators to vote against the bill.

The real need for immigrant workers is nowhere near as large as builders contend, says Adriana Kugler, an economics professor at Georgetown University's Public Policy Institute.

"The very high unemployment rate in construction"—13.2% in April—"makes it difficult to argue there's a lack of available American workers," says Kugler, formerly chief economist for the U.S. Dept. of Labor. 

KUGLER

Average wages for most types of construction workers also remain low—another sign that the building industry is not facing a labor shortage, Kugler says. Even during a period of relatively rapid growth in construction employment, a 15,000-visa cap would enable immigrants to fill only one out of every 10 newly created jobs, she concludes.

All the construction industry stakeholders agree, however, that the current immigration system is, as ABC's Burr put it, "badly broken" and in need of reform. Stan Marek, CEO at Houston-based contractor Marek Brothers Systems, says the fact that many builders are willing to hire immigrant workers who are not in the U.S. legally makes it "impossible for companies like ours that play by the rules to compete.

"Half the workers in our industry are hired as 'independent contractors.' [Firms] pay them lower wages—[the firms] don't pay payroll taxes or workers' comp," says Marek, co-founder of Texans for Sensible Immigration Policy.

"The construction industry shouldn't be relying so heavily on immigrant labor," Marek says. "Over the past 30 years we've had an almost unlimited supply" of labor due in large part to illegal immigration, "and wages have plummeted. Very few Americans coming out of high school want to go into construction" because the pay is too low, and there are few opportunities for training and advancement.