Valley builders warn renewed immigration enforcement is disrupting construction again

PHARR — “We’re back to square one.”

That’s the warning South Texas Builders Association CEO Mario Guerrero delivered Thursday after posting a video to social media that he said showed the aftermath of immigration enforcement activity at two Rio Grande Valley residential construction sites. 

In the video, Guerrero said foundation crews had been “picked up,” leaving unfinished concrete pours and largely empty job sites, while other workers were increasingly afraid to report to construction sites.

The warning comes as federal immigration enforcement has intensified across the country. 

Earlier this week, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement announced roughly 10,000 arrests of people in the country illegally during a five-day enforcement operation, one of the agency’s largest recent enforcement pushes.

For the Rio Grande Valley, the heightened enforcement also comes days after Sister Leticia “Letty” Ugboaja, a Catholic nun and registered nurse in McAllen, was detained Sunday while on her way to Mass before later being released. The incident drew national attention and renewed local discussions about immigration enforcement.

The latest developments represent another chapter in a story the Rio Grande Valley Business Journal has been following since late 2025, when builders first began warning that immigration enforcement was disrupting residential construction and creating ripple effects across the regional economy.

Since then, builders, lenders, title companies, construction suppliers and elected officials have been warning that worksite enforcement, combined with labor shortages, tariffs and higher borrowing costs, have delayed projects, increased financing expenses, and added pressure to the Valley’s housing market.

Now, Guerrero says many of those same concerns are resurfacing.

“As you all know, the construction industry has been terrorized with these raids that are currently happening in the construction industry,” Guerrero said in Thursday’s video. “People are not showing up to work.”

The video shows fresh concrete, construction equipment, and partially completed foundations at what Guerrero identified as two residential subdivisions. 

“This is a major problem,” Guerrero said. “If you, as a consumer, believe that life is more expensive now and the purchase of a home has gotten extremely out of hand, this is only going to enhance that.”

Guerrero’s warning echoes concerns he shared with the Journal earlier this year.

During an interview on the Journal’s podcast, Guerrero argued that interruptions at construction sites can quickly ripple through the broader economy. 

A delayed concrete pour, he said, can force builders to remove hardened concrete, replace materials, and repeat inspections, turning one disruption into tens of thousands of dollars in additional costs.

“I’m not saying not to do your job,” Guerrero said during that interview. “What I’m saying is you’re causing harm to the economy.”

He also warned that longer construction timelines affect far more than builders. 

Many homes are financed with short-term construction loans, meaning delays increase interest costs, postpone loan repayments, and can ultimately affect banks, suppliers, and future residential development.

Over the past several months, the Journal has reported that some builders have begun renting homes originally intended for sale to offset carrying costs, while lenders have grown more cautious about financing new subdivisions as projects take longer to complete.

Guerrero said Thursday that the latest enforcement activity threatens to compound challenges the industry was already facing.

“The system is broken,” he said. “People are not showing up to work. The United States system has not provided a proper pathway in order for people to learn how to actually do these trades, and that’s only going to raise pricing on every trade that it takes to create a home for the consumer to purchase at a good price.”

In response, the South Texas Builders Association is once again calling for a regional conversation.

The association announced Thursday that it will host a public meeting from 10 a.m. to noon July 29 at the Brookhaven Event Center in Pharr. 

The group invited elected officials from Roma to Brownsville, sheriffs, law enforcement agencies, business owners, builders, real estate professionals, community leaders, news organizations, and residents to discuss what it describes as the immigration crisis affecting the Rio Grande Valley.

The meeting mirrors the association’s first large public forum on the issue last November, when hundreds of builders, suppliers, lenders, and community members gathered in Pharr to discuss how immigration enforcement was affecting the construction industry.

Since then, lawmakers from both political parties have met with builders, legislation has been introduced in Congress aimed at expanding legal work authorization, and local officials have publicly acknowledged the industry’s concerns. 

Still, builders say many of the workforce challenges they raised months ago remain unresolved, despite their advocacy efforts.

“We need your help,” Guerrero said Thursday. “This is not anything other than a cry for help from our elected officials that should be representing us in the good and in the bad.”