Outside the Beltway

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1. Scott says:
   Sunday, 15 February 2026 at 07:08

   As predicted.

   ‘South Texas will never be red again’: Home builders warn GOP over Trump’s immigration raids

   Home builders are warning President Donald Trump that his aggressive immigration enforcement efforts are hurting their industry. They’re 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.

   Now, of course, homebuilders in Texas are fervent Republican supporters, donating gobs of campaign cash to the party. They are also big employers of immigrants, both legal and illegal. The undocumented immigrants mostly work with the secondary and tertiary employers in construction who don’t have as much political influence.

   The south texas Hispanics are primarily cultural conservatives which is why Republicans can get their vote and why they rejected Kamala Harris (they can be just as bigoted against blacks as the rest of Texas). Also, politics is driven by personal connections (think petty local corruption) than by political ideology.

   Right now, the South Asian and Islamic immigrants are also getting a taste of the extreme heritage of bigotry in Texas. And despite best efforts by Republican leadership, antisemitism is just roiling under the surface.

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