(AUSTIN, TEXAS) — Contractors from the South Texas Builders Association met with U.S. lawmakers and an ICE official in Washington, D.C., last week to press for changes they say would ease labor shortages and project delays tied to ICE raids at construction sites.
Mario Guerrero, executive director of the South Texas Builders Association, led the group in discussions with Reps. Henry Cuellar, Mark Amodei, and Andy Harris, all members of the House Appropriations Homeland Security Subcommittee, along with an ICE official.
Builders and contractors said stepped-up enforcement activity in South Texas has disrupted job sites, delayed builds, and rippled into major metro markets that rely on the same labor pool and subcontracting networks.
The meetings signaled an effort to open direct channels with ICE and the White House, while lawmakers face competing political pressures to maintain enforcement priorities and keep building projects moving.
In Austin, Rep. Monica De La Cruz held a closed-door meeting with South Texas builders to discuss their rights during ICE raids and explore legal work options for migrant construction workers.
De La Cruz announced plans to meet with the U.S. Department of Labor and advocate for an H-2C visa program modeled on the H-2A program used in agriculture.
“We’d like to see where the construction industry would fit,” De La Cruz said.
Contractors described a labor “chilling effect” that they said goes beyond undocumented workers, arguing that visible enforcement activity can deter citizens and authorized workers from showing up when they fear a worksite could draw scrutiny or disruption.
That dynamic, builders said, can scramble schedules for trades that depend on tightly sequenced work, from foundation to framing to mechanical and finishing crews. Delays can cascade when one missing team leaves another idle, pushing completion windows out by months.
Builders also linked the uncertainty to financial strain, saying lenders respond to missed milestones and prolonged build cycles by pulling back on new loans or tightening terms.
They described per-site losses that can mount quickly once crews stop coming, materials sit unused, and timelines extend, especially when projects already run on narrow margins.
The group pointed to regional enforcement activity as part of the backdrop for the squeeze, saying the pace and visibility of immigration actions in South Texas has intensified concern across the construction workforce.
A Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas report confirmed a “chilling effect” on labor supply, adding weight to contractors’ claims that enforcement can constrict worker availability even beyond those directly targeted.
In Washington, the builders sought what they described as practical engagement: a point of contact with ICE to reduce disruption when enforcement activity reaches job sites, and a pathway to elevate the issue to federal agencies focused on labor and economic conditions.
Cuellar said builders delivered a blunt message about their political support and the shock they felt about enforcement reaching their workforces.
“Hey, we were all Trump supporters. we just never thought that they were going to be coming after our folks, our workers,” Cuellar recounted.
Cuellar said he requested a business liaison from acting ICE Director Todd Lyons and arranged White House meetings as part of the outreach effort tied to the builders’ concerns.
De La Cruz also met House Speaker Mike Johnson and White House officials earlier this week, in a round of political meetings that builders viewed with mixed reactions.
Some builders dismissed the engagement as a “photo-op,” reflecting frustration that high-level meetings have not yet produced a clear operational change on job sites.
Supporters of the contractors’ push argue that enforcement volatility has created an unstable labor supply in a sector that already runs on tight coordination. They say the result is not just slower homebuilding, but wider knock-on effects for related businesses that rely on steady construction activity.
At the same time, the builders’ ask lands in the middle of national debates over immigration enforcement, border policy, and whether new legal pathways would ease or encourage flows of migrant labor.
De La Cruz and other supporters framed the H-2C visa program idea as a nonagricultural counterpart to H-2A, aimed at creating a legal pipeline that could reduce sudden swings in labor availability.
Bipartisan legislative interest already exists in the form of Rep. Lloyd Smucker’s Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act, which supporters describe as a vehicle for nonagricultural visas.
Cuellar co-sponsored that legislation, which Smucker refiled in 2025, according to the information provided by the builders and lawmakers involved in the discussions.
Builders pressing for an H-2C-style approach argued that a legal channel tied to employer demand could reduce job-site fear and stabilize attendance, which they say would help financing, schedules, and bids.
Backers also contend that clearer rules could help contractors compete more evenly, by reducing the advantage they say some firms gain when they rely on informal labor arrangements.
Still, the builders’ push faces uncertain legislative prospects, and any program expansion would raise questions about how federal agencies would implement and oversee it.
Contractors stressed that their immediate focus is operational: reducing sudden disruptions and restoring predictability for projects already in motion, rather than waiting for a lengthy legislative process.
The White House offered a different framing, with an emphasis on prioritizing U.S. workers rather than creating new channels for employers to hire abroad.
White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson said, “There is no shortage of American minds and hands.”
That message aligns with a broader political argument that tighter enforcement and a focus on domestic hiring can meet labor needs, even as builders say they struggle to recruit enough workers to keep projects on schedule.
The builders’ meetings also highlighted how quickly enforcement priorities can shift through executive branch operations, while new visa categories or major expansions generally require Congress and subsequent agency work to stand up.
That mismatch can leave local economies feeling immediate effects while policy solutions, if they move at all, take far longer to reach job sites.
For builders, delays can mean missed delivery dates, extended carrying costs, and strained relationships with buyers waiting on homes. For lenders, shifting timelines can raise concerns about risk and repayment.
Policymakers, meanwhile, face incentives shaped by border politics and labor politics, and the same meeting that brings builders into a room can become a test of whether officials emphasize enforcement, new legal pathways, or both.
The South Texas construction market sits close enough to enforcement operations that contractors said even the prospect of activity can affect attendance and hiring, particularly when workers hear reports of ICE raids or see a heightened presence in the region.
Builders said that dynamic can become self-reinforcing, as fewer workers on a site slows progress, which increases scrutiny from lenders and customers, which then tightens the financial and scheduling pressure on the next project.
The contractors’ outreach to Washington and Austin also shows how industry groups are seeking allies across party lines, leaning on appropriations lawmakers with oversight of homeland security funding and on Texas Republicans with access to the White House.
Cuellar’s request for a business liaison from Lyons reflected a practical request, contractors said: a way to communicate quickly when enforcement actions threaten to shut down a site.
Builders also described their goal as creating reliable points of contact so companies can understand expectations and reduce broad disruption, rather than responding to sudden enforcement activity with job-site chaos.
De La Cruz’s plan to engage the Department of Labor signaled a push to bring workforce officials into the conversation, particularly as the builders look for a legal framework that can supply workers for construction without relying on ad hoc fixes.
The Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act and the H-2C visa program concept represent two tracks under discussion: one legislative vehicle already in circulation and one political push framed as a construction-focused pathway similar to the farm labor model.
Neither approach, builders acknowledged in their discussions with lawmakers, offers an immediate solution to crews missing work today, but supporters argue that a legal pipeline could reduce the volatility they say is now baked into planning.
What happens next will hinge on whether the political meetings translate into agency engagement and legislative action, including whether lawmakers move from private discussions to introduced text, co-sponsors, committee action, or public commitments.
De La Cruz’s planned meeting with the U.S. Department of Labor and any follow-up sessions with White House and labor officials will shape whether the builders’ demands remain largely operational—focused on communication and reduced disruption—or evolve into a broader construction-worker visa push with a formal timeline.
South Texas Builders Push Congress to Fix H-2C Visa Program After ICE Raids
South Texas contractors are urging federal lawmakers to create a legal work pathway for migrants and establish better communication with ICE. They argue that site raids cause cascading delays and financial instability. Proposals include the H-2C visa program and the Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act. Despite industry pressure, the White House emphasizes prioritizing U.S. workers, leaving the future of construction labor policy uncertain.
