Deportation vow alarms construction industry

The state’s construction industry is voicing concern that President-elect Trump’s vow to deport millions of undocumented immigrants would cause major labor shortfalls, according to the Texas Standard. 

“It would devastate our industry, we wouldn’t finish our highways, we wouldn’t finish our schools,” said Stan Marek, CEO of Marek, a Houston-based commercial and residential construction giant. “Housing would disappear. I think they’d lose half their labor.”

Many of the state’s cities are on lists of the country’s fastest growing communities, and companies rely on undocumented labor. A 2022 report by the American Immigration Council and Texans for Economic Growth indicated more than a half million immigrants were working in the construction industry and nearly 60% of that workforce was undocumented.

Economist Ray Perryman  notes that the Texas workforce isn’t large enough to keep pace with growth. 

“There are more undocumented people working in Texas right now than there are unemployed people in Texas,” Perryman said.

Proposed tariffs raise concerns along border region

Trump’s intention to levy a 25% tariff on goods imported from Mexico and Canada is raising concerns, particularly along the southern border.

“The biggest impacts are going to be felt by manufacturing companies, transportation companies and warehousing companies,” said Tom Fullerton, an economics professor at the University of Texas at El Paso. “We could end up with a repeat of the 1930s with the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act,” which created a trade war and contributed to the Great Depression.

Most goods traded across the three countries are considered intermediary goods, The Texas Tribune reported. An example is an American carmaker importing Chinese electrical parts, sending the vehicle to Mexico for a circuit board, then the vehicle being sent back across the border for finishing in an assembly line in Texas. Fullerton said an individual product could pass between the U.S. and Mexico four to eight times.

Some Texas elected officials have expressed support for Trump’s tariffs, however. Agriculture Commissioner Sid Miller said tariffs can be an effective negotiating tool to encourage Mexico to shut down the border and said any potential economic impacts would be short-lived.

“We are trying to shut down the flood of illegal immigration,” Miller said. “That factor alone offsets any temporary price increase.”

Patrick calls for Alzheimer’s research funding 

Lt. Gov. Dan Patrick wants lawmakers in the upcoming session next month to approve a dementia research fund modeled after the state’s $6 billion Cancer Prevention and Research Institute, called CPRIT, The Tribune reported.

Since it began in 2007, CPRIT has become the country’s second-largest funder of cancer research, only exceeded by the federal government. If funded by the Legislature, the dementia counterpart could have a global impact on research into Alzheimer’s and dementia. 

“Like CPRIT, this investment will draw leading researchers and companies to Texas and require them to be based in Texas, leading to their further investment in our state,” Patrick said last week.

The Texas Department of State Health Services reports that 459,000 Texans have been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s, the most common form of dementia. That is about 12% of the state’s over-65 population.

Crypto mining facilities must register with PUC

Cryptocurrency mining facilities connected to the state’s primary electric grid must register with the Public Utility Commission under a rule passed late last month. The rule was mandated by a bill passed in 2023 requiring crypto mining facilities using more than 75 megawatts of power to do so. 

Crypto mining consumes huge amounts of power. According to the Texas Blockchain Council, there are at least 27 mining operations in Texas and more are planned. The Electric Reliability Council of Texas predicts the growth in crypto mining facilities and data centers could nearly double electric use within six years.

“To ensure the ERCOT grid is reliable and meets the electricity needs of all Texans, the PUCT and ERCOT need to know the location and power needs of virtual currency miners,” PUCT Chairman Thomas Gleeson said.

Virtual currency mining facilities are “flexible loads,” meaning they can quickly adjust their power consumption in response to certain factors, like changes in the wholesale price of electricity. Facilities that fail to register could be fined $25,000 a day.

Feds can’t destroy razor wire, appeals court rules

A federal appeals court has stopped the federal government from destroying razor-wire fencing installed by Texas along the U.S.-Mexico border near Eagle Pass, the San Antonio Express-News reported. The state placed more than 29 miles of wire in the Eagle Pass area in the past year or so. The Border Patrol has cut some of the wire in a long-running dispute between the federal government and the state over who controls the border.

Last week, the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals issued a 2-1 opinion reversing a lower’s court’s ruling that the federal government could destroy the wire. 

“It was shocking to me that the federal government would go out of their way to cut razor wire to allow illegals to cross when we’re just trying to protect our own land,” Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton said.

TxDOT projects save commuters $915 million

A historic number of projects underway by the Texas Department of Transportation are easing commute times, according to a new report from the Texas A&M Transportation Institute. 

Despite the number of miles traveled on state roads increasing by 7% in the past five years, traffic delays are down 7% in that same time period, according to TTI. The study also found commuters are saving an estimated $915 million in time and fuel costs.

 “As our population and economy continue to grow, there’s a considerable need for more projects, and this report helps guide our work to areas that need it most,” TxDOT Executive Director Marc Williams said.

Gary Borders is a veteran award-winning Texas journalist. He published a number of community newspapers in Texas during a 30-year span, including in Longview, Fort Stockton, Nacogdoches, Lufkin and Cedar Park. Email: gborders@texaspress.com