The Wall Street Journal's main news section is definitely more reliable than its Op-Ed pages, especially the slanted (toward Trump) editorials. Case in point the Journal article 'Immigration Raids Hit Housing Market' (Oct. 19, p. A2) which should be reading material for all who feel priced out of owning a home. As the piece notes:
"The summer surge in federal immigration raids is hitting the housing market, pushing up labor costs and freezing projects. Nearly two-thirds of builders said immigration enforcement is hitting their labor force, up from 23% in March and 13% a year ago, according to a September John Burns Research and Consulting survey."
According to Scott Brannock, president of Jacksonville-based Tidewater Homes and the Northeast Florida Builders Association:
"We're almost dead in the water because our workforce is gone. We have national builders who are missing projections, losing hundreds of thousands of dollars because they have slabs sitting on the ground and no one to frame."
This, of course, is a mirror image of what's transpiring in the home health care and nursing home business, as the deportation frenzy has targeted over 330,000 Haitians to be sent back to that ruined nation. E.g.
by Heather Digby Parton | September 4, 2026 - 5:06am | permalink
Many of the Haitians having worked as nurses in U.S. hospitals as well as nursing home assistants throughout the U.S. especially in Florida, and home health aides for seniors. Now, they may soon be gone leaving a labor vacuum that will be difficult to fill - given most Americans will not do the task of senior care for $13/hr.
While these reckless deportations have hollowed out critical labor in the health-senior care market, the amped up immigration raids and deportation threats have done the same to the housing market. As the Journal piece goes on to note:
"The shortages come as the country tries to drive down sky high housing costs that have trapped millions of Americans out of home ownership. Immigration trades have primarily hit trades such as roofers, painters and framers."
The graphic below shows the share of immigrant workers by construction trade from 2024.
Given those proportions only a certified fool would believe American workers could or would take up the slack. Yet one beholds an imp like Matthew O'Brien - Executive Director of the Federation for American immigration Reform - baldly claiming in the same WSJ piece:
"It's an absurd contention that we should stop deporting immigration lawbreakers simply because construction companies want to employ them."
Reinforcing the nonsense from immigration enforcement advocates who claim "deportations will drive down housing costs by removing competition for housing." Making one wonder on what alternate Earth these goobers inhabit. I mean how do you reduce housing costs by deporting the most available labor that creates new housing? Oh yeah, they have an answer:
"the builders should hire American workers."
Oh, brilliant idea there. And you seriously believe Americans are going to work for the same rates? They ought to ask David Hacker - owner of subcontractor Construction Specialties of North Florida (who also appears in the piece). Mr. Hacker "has seen a 70 percent reduction of crews available for certain jobs, forcing the leftover crews to double their rates to recruit new workers."
He himself now having to start a new campaign by "offering significant cash bonuses".
And who pray tell, WHO do these immigration enforcement fools think is going to pay for the extra increase in construction labor? The builders? Dream on! The higher rates, costs will be passed on in terms of the new home costs. Think $800,00 for each new home - instead of $400,000. As Josh Putnal, owner of a siding subcontractor in Jacksonville put it:
"There's no one lining up to do a lot of these jobs."
Got that, immigrant enforcement zealots? And that means no 'Muricans lining up to do those jobs either. It didn't have to be this way had the immigration raids not been scaled up. As the Journal notes:
"Last year, immigration arrests had only limited impact on the home-building industry, other than select pockets of the country - such as South Texas. That changed this summer as the Trump administration scaled up immigration arrests to record levels."
So just as in the case of health care, once the millions of immigrants from a dozen nations lost their temporary protected status, we can expect housing construction to first to crater - then explode - thanks to much higher labor costs. The predictable result is that housing (and rentals) will now inflate beyond the means of anyone but the wealthy to afford them.
further inflate beyond the ability of anyone but the wealthiest to access them.
See Also:
And:
So If All The Undocumented Are Deported WHO Is Going To Do Their Jobs? Just Asking!
And:
What
Deporting Haitian Immigrants Means For Older Adults And Caregivers
Excerpt:
President Trump’s decision to revoke what’s known as Temporary Protective Status for immigrants from a dozen countries will severely damage health and long-term care in the US. More than 1 million people are at risk of being deported as a result of the move, including 350,000 from Haiti, many of whom work in health and long-term care.
Trump cancelled TPS at the end of July, after the Supreme Court refused to block efforts to stop the move. And the Administration has begun deportations.
But even those still in the US have lost their work permits—and their jobs. While they remain in immigration limbo, they cannot work to support their families and many have been fired from jobs they’ve had for years. That, in turn, has worsened an already severe shortage of health and long-term care workers, including nurses, aides, and technicians.
And:
ICE agents are seen chasing farmworkers through a field in Oxnard, Cal... | ice | TikTok
And:
Florida builders say fear of ICE raids is driving up costs | TRD Miami Roundtable
And:
ECONOMIC COLLAPSE WARNING SIGNS ARE GETTING BAD | The Kyle Kulinski Show
