New Deportations Not The best thing Regarding Texas Immigrants

There’s a well-known fact about the Texas economy that is almost a taboo topic that is avoided at all costs. Many Texans work in the blue-collar industries whether that be agriculture, construction or the oil industry. Native born Texans, however, are not the only people supplying that work force. Migrant workers that have entered the country both legally and illegally make up a huge part of those industries. 

President Elect Trump ran a big part of his campaign on fight the problem of people crossing our borders without following the proper procedures. Trump promised to enforce mass deportations this time instead of focusing on the wall at the border. Unfortunately, that leaves some business owners concerned about who is going to do the work that U.S. citizens avoid like their annual visits to the dentist. We know they have to happen, but we’d really like to not do it if at all possible.  

Let’s consider the impact to the construction industry. There are a lot of undocumented workers laying down the foundation for the Texas housing market, both literally and figuratively. If we were to proceed with a mass deportation of them there would be a housing crisis so bad that even Chip and Joanna would have to close up shop. 

An argument could be made that the leaders in these fields could pay more livable wages to the employees instead of continuing to employ illegal immigrants because they are the only people willing to do the hard work in these industries for the low amount of pay that they provide. That could be a solution to the problem of having jobs that no citizen of the USA wants to work at the current wage they pay. Asking business owners to pay employees more and to cut into their profits would be like asking an illegal immigrant to hand ICE their forwarding address and a map to the nearest deportation center. It ain’t gonna happen, 

Texas is a place where we are known for using the phrase, “Y’all come back now!” Maybe, for the sake of the economy and some of our industries we should learn how to say, “Y’all stick around for little while.”