Trump’s proposals to deport millions of undocumented immigrants — which would be exceedingly difficult to carry out — would bring major consequences for the construction industry and the overall housing market if he succeeds. In a widely cited February paper, researchers at the University of Utah and the University of Wisconsin found that higher immigration enforcement reduced the number of construction workers and led to less home building and higher home prices. The paper also found that “undocumented labor is a complement to domestic labor,” and that deporting undocumented construction workers also cut back on the labor supplied by domestic workers.
Office of Strategic Communication