From Newsgroup: rec.sport.tennis

Home builders are warning President Donald Trump that his aggressive immigration enforcement efforts are hurting their industry. TheyrCOre cautioning that Republican candidates could soon be hurt, too.

Construction executives have held multiple meetings over the last month
with the White House and Congress to discuss how immigration busts on
job sites and in communities are scaring away employees, making it more expensive to build homes in a market desperate for new supply. Beyond
the affordability issue, the executives made an electability argument,
raising concerns to GOP leaders that support among Hispanic voters is
eroding, particularly in regions that swung to Trump in 2024.

rCLI told [lawmakers] straight up: South Texas will never be red again,rCY said Mario Guerrero, the CEO of the South Texas Builders Association, a
Trump voter who traveled to Washington last week.

He urged the administration and lawmakers to ease up on enforcement at construction sites, warning that employees are afraid to go to work.
The construction industry is one of the latest and clearest examples of
how the presidentrCOs mass deportation agenda continues to clash with his economic goals of bringing down prices and political aims of keeping
control of Congress.

The White House meeting with lawmakers followed others with builders and
trade groups this month. A number of industry representatives met at the
White House in early February, and the South Texas Builders Association traveled to Washington last week for meetings with lawmakers, including
Reps. Mark Amodei (R-Nev.), Andy Harris (R-Md.) and Henry Cuellar (D-Texas).

rCLThey started off with, rCyhey, we were all Trump supporters, and we
thought he was going to secure the border and then kick out criminals,
we just never thought that they were going to be coming after our folks,
our workers, on that,rCOrCY Cuellar said, recounting the message the
builders shared the first time he met with them. rCLTheyrCOre builders, contractors, lumber companies, cement companies, in the finance part of
it. That type of ripple effect has hurt their economy. Not only
individuals, but their economy.rCY

The meetings this month came after Democrats crushed a Republican in a
special runoff election for a state senate seat in a Trump-friendly
district in Tarrant County, which includes most of Fort Worth, rattling Republicans nationally.

Trump, whose own businesses have relied on immigrant labor, has been sympathetic to some concerns from industry leaders, including in the hospitality and agriculture sectors. Last summer, the president shifted
his immigration policy after raids hit meatpacking plants, Koch Poultry,
and dairy farms in rural communities.

Still, Trump, Vice President JD Vance, Housing and Urban Development
Secretary Scott Turner and congressional Republicans have blamed
inflated housing prices on immigration. Would you believe.

Johnny Vasquez, executive officer of the Rio Grande Valley Builders Association, noted that Hidalgo County turned red for the president in
2024 rCo an example of gains the GOP will lose if the policies donrCOt
shift, he argued.

rCLFor me and for our association, we need workers, whether theyrCOre
American or not,rCY he said. rCLWe just need workers.rCY

https://www.politico.com/news/2026/02/14/south-texas-will-never-be-red-again-builders-warn-gop-over-trumps-immigration-raids-00781374

Every time you shop for a tomato, or buy a house, you're signing a
contract with Count Kalergi.

"Please help us, Kalergi Kenobi".
--
"And off they went, from here to there,
The bear, the bear, and the maiden fair"
-- Traditional

--- Synchronet 3.21b-Linux NewsLink 1.2