Can border wall be built without immigrant labor?
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‘With 670 miles of the U.S.-Mexico border fence slated for completion by year’s end, construction companies in Texas are questioning the feasibility of completing such a project without immigrant labor,’ says this story in the Valley Morning Star of Harlingen, Texas.
‘The irony is not lost on businesses that have come to rely heavily on immigrant workers to fill vacancies left by a shrinking domestic labor pool.’ ‘Is it possible to construct a wall without undocumented workers?’ asked Perry Vaughn, executive director of the Rio Grande Valley Chapter of the Associated General Contractors of America. ‘It’s probably borderline impossible to be honest with you.’
The Valley Morning Star’s story continues:
In recent years, the construction industry has seen a dramatic increase in undocumented foreign-born Hispanic workers, according to a Pew Hispanic report published in 2007.Based on information collected from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the U.S. Census Bureau, the report also found that foreign-born workers held one in five construction jobs in 2006.In Texas, that percentage is unquestionably much higher, said Jerry Nevuld, president and CEO of the Houston Chapter of AGC.
-- Reed Johnson in Mexico City
