Executives in the construction industry are telling Trump that his crackdown on illegal aliens is having an adverse effect on their industry, making homebuilding more expensive, reports Newsweek. National Association of Home Builders and South Texas Builders Association are two organizations to make these claims, and they also contend that aggressive ICE roundups could hurt the GOP in the midterm elections.
However, White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson spoke against that assertion.
"There is no shortage of American minds and hands to grow our labor force, and President Trump's agenda to create jobs for American workers represents this administration's commitment to capitalizing on that untapped potential while delivering on our mandate to enforce our immigration laws," stated Jackson.
Ira Mehlman is media director for the Federation for American Immigration Reform. He agrees with the White House.
"The construction industry, like a lot of other industries over the years, has systematically moved American workers out of these jobs because the availability of lower wage illegal aliens would come in and take the jobs at lower wages,” states Mehlman. “We need to have a level playing field."
Mehlman says that construction has traditionally been a solid middle-class trade.
"(It is) where people can earn decent livings for themselves and their families. As long as we apply the law equally, it puts everybody on a level playing field, and we can go back to a time where construction can again become a solid middle-class trade in this country,” says Mehlman. “We shouldn't be carving out exceptions for certain industries that have a lot of political clout."
Sean Jointer is a construction developer and contractor who owns Righteous Enterprise and is an ambassador for the Project 21 Black Leadership Network. He says that some of these companies are operating illegally.
“But you definitely can see that we need trades, putting programs back in the high schools just to kind of train our children's minds to go that direction. I think we need to look for opportunities to further our inner city and have better job opportunities and futures for their families," states Jointer.
He says the law clearly states that, if one enters the United States illegally, the one has broken the law.
"If you're a criminal, you're a criminal. You can't go to other countries and perform or do half the things that you do here," says Jointer.
He states that it’s about changing the mindset.
"Parents should be telling their children, ‘hey have you talked about getting into HVAC? Have you talked about getting into electrical?’ Planting those seeds in their minds so they're not just trying to be influencers and TikTok dancers. They're actually providing and getting a 401K and a pension and leaving something for the next generation to come," says Jointer.
However, there is concern because Trump previously backtracked on deporting illegal aliens who are farm workers under pressure from the agriculture industry.
In June 2025, he posted on Truth Social that farmers warned him that “our very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace.”
He said at the time that the farmers must be protected, meaning their farm labor, and promised that changes were coming.
Trump affirmed his decision later that day in an interview saying that an order should be coming soon.
However, not much has been done as Fox News reported that border czar Tom Homan explained that operations on these worksites will still be carried out, but on a priority basis — criminals first.
