'We Depend on Immigrants,' Say Texas Construction Employers
Photo: AP/Aaron M. Sprecher
A combination of Texas business associations and the state's Gulf Coast building trades unions have stepped up a pro-immigrant campaign in the weeks leading up to the national presidential election—emphasizing the overwhelming number of immigrants who work in the state's residential and non-residential construction industry.
Released last month, data and an accompanying message on immigration were prepared by the Texans for Economic Growth, an employer association, and the American Immigration Council, a pro-immigrant nonprofit association founded in 1987 by immigration attorneys. Among supporters of the recent report are the Houston Gulf Coast Building & Construction Trades Council and the Greater Houston Builders Association.
The employers note that immigrants comprise 40% of all employees in the state's construction industry, despite accounting for only 17% of its total population. The employers also suggest that many immigrants start construction businesses, and make up 39.7% of all entrepreneurs in the industry.
More than nine out of 10 of the immigrants come from Mexico, Central America and the Carribean, with 2.1% from South America. A 2022 report suggested that nearly one in four industry workers are undocumented immigrants—23.3%—but are needed to fill the state labor shortage.
Texas has been front and center in the fierce debate over immigrants and their role in the U.S. for many years. Former President Donald Trump has promised to deport millions of undocumented immigrants in the U.S. The Biden Administration has tightened border controls in recent months and Vice President and current presidential candidate Kamala Harris has visited the border. She and other Democrats blame Republicans for failing to support comprehensive immigration reform.
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