From an aerial view the Mexican and American flags fly over the Rio Grande at the U.S.-Mexico border in El Paso, Texas. John Moore/Getty Images
John Moore/Getty Images
Clear signals President-elect Donald Trump plans to make good on his campaign pledge to deport millions of undocumented immigrants in his second term has sparked concerns among some in Texas’ business and economic sectors who say mass deportations could upend some of the state’s major industries that rely on undocumented labor, chief among them the booming construction industry.
“It would devastate our industry, we wouldn’t finish our highways, we wouldn’t finish our schools,” said Stan Marek, CEO of Marek, a Houston-based commercial and residential construction giant. “Housing would disappear. I think they’d lose half their labor.”
Talk of a mass round up comes as Texas is booming. Texas cities regularly appear on lists of the country’s fastest growing communities, and construction cranes and workers donning safety vests are common sites in most major cities.
That Texas relies on undocumented labor is one of the state’s open secrets, despite Republicans’ tough-on-immigration stances.
In 2022,