WASHINGTON, DC - Scott Turner, the U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban Development, says there are plenty of Americans willing and able to replace immigrants in the construction industry.
Turner clashed with U.S. Rep. Vicente Gonzalez of McAllen during a congressional hearing in Washington, D.C.
“We have plenty American people for American jobs, and that's my concentration. I would say that to have migrants to do these jobs, I believe, is a slap in the face for the American people. We need to increase the trades in our country. We need to bring back manufacturing in our country,” Turner said response to a question from Gonzalez.
Gonzalez said he agreed with Turner that the U.S. has to bring back manufacturing but said that is not going to happen overnight. “We have a labor shortage,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez began the exchange by telling Turner he wanted to address housing affordability in the U.S.
“We have to be honest about that, because, while we talk about immigrants, 30% of construction workers in this country are immigrants. And in Texas, about 40% of construction workers are immigrants. And in your city of Dallas, in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, Houston, San Antonio, that number goes up to about 60% depending where you are.,” Gonzalez said.
Gonzalez said he had met recently with the South Texas Builders Association.
“We had a very candid conversation about the labor shortage that we're suffering in Texas and across the country. Just last year, it was shown that we would have had 400,000 homes less built in this country if it had not been for immigrant labor,” Gonzalez said.
“Right now, I have builders, I have realtors, I have lenders, I have title companies coming to me… these are folks who supported President Trump in his last election… and said what nobody else would say out loud, we need immigrants to build America, and we cannot do it without immigrant labor. We have a labor shortage in this country.”
Gonzalez continued: “I know people say, well, we need to build our workforce. We probably do need to build our workforce, but we're not going to do that overnight. What are we doing? And what are you telling the President about these policies that are effectively killing any real chance of solving housing affordability in this country.”
Gonzalez asked Turner how the nation is going to solve its housing crisis.
"I'm sure you're very well aware: we have a housing shortage. We have a labor shortage. We have projects that are on hold across the state of Texas and probably across the country, because we don't have the labor to do it, and the only labor that is willing to do it is mostly immigrant labor that's doing some of the most dangerous work and the hardest work in this country.”
Gonzalez added: “We really need to have a serious conversation on addressing the labor shortage in this country. These are Donald Trump supporters. These people voted for Trump. They thought he was going to help the country, and he's actually hurt them. Framing prices in my district have doubled this year alone because of the labor shortage. That's just the framing of it. You can keep on going, carpentry, bricklaying, roofing. Those are all… immigrant labor forces are handling most of that for the country, especially in the fastest growing states like Texas, Florida, New York, California, and many other places in this country.This is a serious conversation that can only be addressed by you and this President, and I really hope y'all can do that.”
Mario Guerrero, CEO of the South Texas Builders Association, told the Rio Grande Guardian that his members have tried to hire American workers but nobody will step forward.
"A lot of people say, well, why don't you hire Americans? The thing is, we are trying. People are saying, well, there's not good money in construction. And that is a lie. The lowest paid hand that we have is the helper. It gets paid about $15 an hour," Guerrero said.
"I'm pretty sure that we (as an industry) are paying what we can. We held a workshop, and only six people showed up, and we opened it to the public. We're like, hey, free training. We're gonna show you how to do the concrete. We're gonna get you a job. Only six people showed up."
Of the ICE raids at constrtuction sites, Guerrero said: "I think that what it's going to do to the industry, it's just going to prolong the time that it's going to take to actually build these houses, because we were so dependent, being a border town, on having having people that wanted to come to the United States to work."
