SAN ANTONIO — Workforce shortages in the U.S. construction industry are being compounded by tariffs and stepped-up immigration enforcement, with Texas contractors reporting some of the heaviest impacts, according to a new industry survey.
The Associated General Contractors of America (AGC) found that 28% of construction firms nationwide have been affected, directly or indirectly, by stronger U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) activity over the past six months. In Texas, the situation is more acute, with about one in three contractors reporting disruptions.
“Workforce shortages are the leading cause of construction project delays in this country,” said AGC spokesman Brian Turmail. He explained that immigration enforcement and tariffs have become two of the most significant contributors to the labor squeeze.
While large-scale deportations are not widespread, Turmail emphasized the broader climate of uncertainty is eroding the workforce.
“It looks like most of the impacts haven’t been in high numbers of individuals who have been detained and deported,” Turmail said. “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.”
This uncertainty has left employers struggling to retain crews and has caused ripple effects across project schedules. For many smaller contractors, even modest disruptions in labor can derail deadlines and increase costs.
Earlier this year, the Trump administration set a mandate for ICE to make 3,000 arrests per day. However, data from the Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse (TRAC) indicates the agency has consistently fallen short of that goal.
Still, the heightened enforcement activity is enough to create instability. Workers, even those pursuing legal processes, face risks during scheduled check-ins or hearings.
“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,” said Carlos Castaneda, a San Antonio immigration attorney.
He added: “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.”
The workforce shortage comes as demand for construction remains high in Texas, particularly in commercial, infrastructure, and residential development. A reduction in labor supply could push project costs higher and extend delivery times at a moment when housing affordability and public works investment are already critical issues.
Turmail noted that while confidence in sales pipelines remains steady for many firms, the shortage of skilled labor has become a structural challenge that could outlast current enforcement patterns. “It will be interesting to see how long contractor optimism can persist if these headwinds remain in place,” he said.
Originally reported by Zack Briggs in KENS 5.
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