""We've had several situations where we've had job sites raided, for lack of a better term... and it is a cause of concern," he said. "It's definitely affected the labor market in general," he added, with ripple effects beyond undocumented workers."There's a lot of folks that are here legally, that have relatives that may not be, and it's put everybody more in a defensive position," Davis said."
""For years, the U.S. construction industry has faced skills and labor shortages, even with significant participation from undocumented migrants," Basu said. "This enforcement push is an economic shock: It drives up costs, delays investment, and leaves us with a lower-grade built environment.""
"Contractors say crews are now working with "heads on a swivel.""
Heightened immigration enforcement has resulted in mid-shift detentions of construction workers across Baldwin County and the broader South, removing key labor from active job sites. Contractors report sudden absences of laborers who worked in extreme heat to support families, producing blown schedules, thinner capacity, and defensive behavior among crews. The enforcement has ripple effects on legally present workers with undocumented relatives and is raising industry uncertainty. Economists describe the enforcement as an economic shock that raises costs, delays investment, and risks lower-quality construction outcomes. Recent detentions include nearly 50 workers at local school projects and 475 at a Georgia auto plant.
Read at Fortune
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]