A recent survey found 28% of construction firms reported being affected, either directly or indirectly, by heightened ICE enforcement in the past six months.
SAN ANTONIO — A decline in construction workers nationwide is being linked to tariffs and ramped-up immigration enforcement, a new report found.
According to the Associated General Contractors of America (AGC), construction sector employment declined by 7,000 positions in August, which doesn’t reflect much change from December.
“Workforce shortages are the leading cause of construction project delays in this country,” said AGC spokesman Brian Turmail.
Turmail noted tariffs and frequent activity from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are among the most prominent factors fueling the shortage. A recent AGC survey found 28% of construction firms reported being affected either directly or indirectly by heightened ICE enforcement in the past six months.
In Texas, Turmail noted one in three contractors have been impacted in some capacity. While large-scale detentions are not the norm, the uncertainty of remaining in the U.S. remains an ongoing worry.
“It looks like most of the impacts haven’t been in high numbers of individuals who have been detained and deported,” Turmail explained. “It’s the impact of the psychological worry. You’ve got a lot of folks in the country who are uncertain of their lawful status.”
Earlier this year, the Trump administration ordered ICE to make 3,000 arrests per day. But according to reports from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, the agency has consistently fallen short of that target.
Immigration attorney Carlos Castaneda said the reality still creates risk for migrants, especially for those attempting to follow the legal process. He emphasized that migrants attending check-ins or court hearings can face detention regardless of warrants.
“As an immigration lawyer that’s been doing this for a while, including the entirety of the last Trump administration, it has been getting harder to give good news or encouraging news to individuals,” Castaneda said. “If an individual agent sees someone who they have reason to believe is in the country illegally or committing another immigration violation they have jurisdiction over, they can first detain that person then inquire about their immigration status.”