“It’s going to create higher prices ... It’s going to create some contractors going out of business,' an industry leader warns.
Alabama has a shortage of construction workers, and the Trump administration’s crackdown on illegal immigration is threatening to make it worse, an industry leader said. Tim Harrison, chairman of the Associated Builders and Contractors of Alabama, said the construction industry supports the removal of immigrants who commit crimes.
But, he said, people who came here without legal documents years ago and have proven themselves as otherwise law-abiding and reliable employees are valuable for the industry and for the larger economy. Federal authorities carrying out the administration’s call for mass deportations have stepped up raids on construction sites this summer. This summer, roughly four dozen“From an economic standpoint, from our economy, taking this magnitude of workers out of our workforce will adversely affect our industry,” Harrison said. “It’s going to create higher prices, going to create slower timelines. It’s going to create some contractors going out of business because they can’t have employees. It’s just not a really good situation.”Harrison, who owns a construction company in Tuscaloosa, said he has heard the same concerns about a workforce shortage from leaders“We’ve been to Montgomery, we’ve been to Washington,” Harrison said. “We sat down with all of our representatives that would sit down with us, which was the majority of them.What the industry wants, Harrison said, is to better identify the “bad actors” and create a way for other immigrants to remain in the country and work, under certain conditions.ABC Alabama President Jay Reed said the current workforce shortage is one of the five top issues for members during his 29 years with the association, which represents about 600 general contractors, subcontractors, engineers and construction-related companies with a total of about 30,000 employees.He believes the state’s increasing emphasis on workforce development and career training in public schools is beginning to change that. “We are turning the tide now,” Reed said. “People are thinking construction again and skilled trades. But unfortunately, at the time that we’re dealing with this right now, we just don’t have enough manpower to overcome something like this. “But we want to work with President Trump to fulfill his mission on rebuilding America. And we want to find solutions that uphold the law, but allow us to find a path for immigrant workers on our job sites.”Harrison said news stories about worksite raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the Trump administration’s goals of mass deportation cause anxiety in the workplace even for workers with legal status. “These guys on the job sites right now, their head’s on a swivel because they’re so concerned any minute that they may get raided,” Harrison said. “They’ve heard that some of these people throughout the process have been picked up even though they had documentation. There’s hysteria in that community.”South Alabama immigration arrests break up families, breed ‘racial profiling’ fears, advocates say “There’s enough news covered out there of raids that still keeps this in the forefront of this population’s mind as well as ours,” Harrison said. “I haven’t seen it slowing down.” “This workforce issue is paramount with regard to the economic development of our state as well as our nation,” Harrison said.who for decades has spearheaded construction projects across the state funded by the RSA, told the Employees’ Retirement System board last week that no one opposes the removal of immigrants who commit crimes and harm people but questioned the detention of other immigrant workers. “These people who have been here 10 years, 15 years, never did a damn thing except feed their family and work and pay their taxes as legal as you could get, other than they came improperly 20, 30 years ago in some cases,” Bronner said.Harrison said the industry has proposed that the federal government establish a system to identify workers who should have an opportunity to remain in the country and weed out those who should be removed because of criminal activity. “Long term, we want a procedure by which if we have an immigrant that is working in the construction industry, that is not a bad actor, that hasn’t had any legal transgressions, that he have the right to be able to work through some sort of approved visa program in the construction industry.” The idea, Harrison said, would include a requirement for undocumented workers to go through a screening process to determine they are who they say they are, then pay restitution, perhaps $15,000 over a four-year period, in order to be able to remain in the country and work. They could be sponsored by employers, who could pay a share of the restitution, which could be payroll deductible.Because that would take some time to implement, Harrison said that in the short-term, the industry would like to see something like an “essential worker” designation, similar to what was used to carve out exceptions to workplace shutdowns during the COVID pandemic.“The problem with this, in Washington, D.C., is it’s too common sense,” Harrison said. “It’s too easy.Harrison said the concerns among business leaders about keeping the immigrant workforce are widespread. “This is basically every industry that’s out there where manual labor is needed to produce the product,” Harrison said. “The chicken processing plants, forestry, I’ve got friends in forestry. I’ve got friends in manufacturing.Harrison said the industry’s efforts to advocate for a better system have been met with unwarranted skepticism. “The sentiment in Washington, D.C. is that we, as the big contractor, or we as the large manufacturer, or we as the big agricultural guy out there, are just looking for cheap labor to pad our pockets,” Harrison said.But he said the value of the immigrant workers is not based on their willingness to work for less. “The truth of the matter is we’re paying these people at least equal wages, sometimes even more to be able to get them because they’re skilled, they’re productive and they work as much as you will let them,” Harrison said. “The only time this population will not work historically is on Sundays. That’s because they want to spend time with their families and in their church.“And that’s the vast majority of the Hispanic population that’s in our industry, that’s out there working.” Harrison said he believes the lack of border security under the Biden administration helped create the situation because of the influx of people coming into the country with criminal intent. So he said he understands the need for more enforcement. “But there’s got to be a mechanism by which we can set this verification process up to separate that type of immigrant versus the type of immigrant that we’re talking about - the hard-working people that have not broken the law, that have just been here trying to, trying to feed their families,” he said.Harrison said he understands that officials in Washington, especially Republicans, are under pressure to support the president’s agenda. “They’re elected officials,” Harrison said. “I understand their plight here. I think at some point in time common sense will prevail. I hope we’re seeing it.” “This is a marathon,” he said. “This ain’t a sprint. And that marathon includes a temporary stay here on this as well as a long-term fix.” If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our
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