The construction industry keeps adding jobs in South Florida despite a skilled labor shortage in the region.
The CEO of the Hispanic Construction Council, George Carrillo, leads a national nonprofit focused on addressing construction workforce gaps. He said that a large portion of the workers are from other countries.
"When we think about the other critical component, over 20% of that comes from our immigrant community. For some of them, they're undocumented. And that's where you see that they're filling in these critical gaps," Carrillo said.
Carrillo said he’s backing the Building America Stronger Act, an industry proposal to create a legal path to citizenship for about 900,000 undocumented workers who’ve spent decades in construction. The proposal isn’t part of the current session of Congress, but Carrillo is working with members to introduce it.
He said aggressive immigration enforcement, such as a May 2025 ICE raid in Tallahassee that arrested over 100 undocumented construction workers, can delay entire projects.
"This is a loss of revenue, of profitability and also possible litigation. When you think about general contractors not being able to meet their contract obligations of meeting these tight deadlines," Carrillo said.
READ MORE: After-hours construction? In Miami, it’s always approved
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