Some Texas business owners who employ illegal migrants reportedly are taking a wait-and-see approach with President-elect Donald Trump's expected mass deportations.
Agriculture, construction, and service industries employ illegal migrants, some of whom arrived during the Biden administration's border crisis.
The impact of Trump's actions to deal with both southern border security and the high number of migrants who crossed the border under President Joe Biden on Texas' economy will depend on specifics of what is done, business leaders told The Texas Tribune.
"I don't think any of us know exactly what's coming as far as policy — we've heard all of the rhetoric," North Texas Commission's Andrea Coker, whose nonprofit promotes the Dallas region, told the Tribune.
The owner of a Rio Grande Valley agriculture import-export business told the Tribune, "We wouldn't survive and we'll have to close" without the illegal migrant employees.
Trump has said his plan for mass deportations is aimed largely at removing migrants who have a criminal history. The migrant crisis also helped Mexican cartels generated revenue through drugs and human trafficking.
Business owners employing illegal migrants claim they have done so because they've struggled to find U.S. citizens and legal residents willing to work.
"The people who are here legally don't want to work here. They'd rather collect unemployment," an import-export business owner said. "We've hired people who were documented, but they don't last."
Another factor adding to the struggle of finding American workers for some industries.
In a Texas Monthly story in November, Brent Orrell, an expert on workforce development at the American Enterprise Institute, cited the statistic that one in five construction workers in the U.S. is 55 or older.
"That's the fundamental constraint that we have to face up to: We just don't have enough people," Orrell told the outlet.
That's true for several industries.
"It's not just construction. Who's picking all the fruit and all the vegetables? Who's milking all those cows? Every job you look at all over the United States, there are immigrants," said Stan Marek, owner of a large Houston-based construction firm.
"We gotta have the business community step up. That's the key because the business community, more than anybody, is responsible for the labor."
Charlie McCarthy ✉
Charlie McCarthy, a writer/editor at Newsmax, has nearly 40 years of experience covering news, sports, and politics.
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