They were not arrested when ICE agents stormed a construction site of burned property in Altadena earlier this month. The man they were chasing was not there. But their mere ghosts scared the workers enough to put the project in a temporary halt.
The next day, half of the team of 12 were at home. According to Brock Harris, a real estate agent who represents property developers, the crew has returned to full strength by the end of this week, but now they are working in fear. “It had a calm effect,” he said. “They are instilling fear in workers looking to rebuild LA.”
Harris said another developer in the area began camouflaging his construction site: Porta Poti’s hiding, removal of construction fences, car pooling the site so that workers park far away and don’t attract attention.
The possibility of a widespread immigrant raid at construction sites is ominously on the prospect of reconstruction after the most devastating fire in Los Angeles County’s history.
A new report by UCLA Anderson forecasts said Roundup could smack the enormous work to exacerbate the housing crisis by rebuilding 13,000 homes that were wiped out at Altadena and Miyadaira Palisade in the Pacific on Jan. 7, and blocking new constructions throughout the state.
“Deportation would drain the construction workforce,” the report said. “The losses for workers installing drywalls, flooring, roofs and more will directly reduce production levels.”
A house under construction in Altadena.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
The results extend well beyond those who have been deported, the report said. Many undocumented workers who have managed to avoid ice are forced to withdraw from the workforce. Their specialization is often essential to completing a project and can harm the property of the remaining workers who cannot finish their work without help.
“The productive activities of the undocumented person and the rest of the workforce are often complementary,” the report states. “For example, housing construction may be delayed due to a decrease in certain skills,” which means “an increase in unemployment rates for the rest of the workforce.”
Jerry Nickelsberg, director of Anderson Forecasts and author of the Quarterly California Report released Wednesday, said “confusion and uncertainty” about the development of both immigration and trade policy “will have a negative impact on California.”
Contractors want to hire Americans, but they have a hard time finding them with the right capabilities and adequately, said Brian Turmail, a spokesman for the relevant general contractor for the American Trade Group.
“Most of them are in the Lee Greenwood crowd,” he said. “They rather employ young men and women from the US. They’re just not there.”
“Construction companies don’t start with a business plan of ‘hiring undocumented workers’,” Turmail says. “They start with a business plan: ‘Find qualified people.’ It was relatively easy for undocumented workers to enter the country. So don’t be surprised that there are undocumented workers working in the industry under construction. ”
The contractor’s trade group said the government’s policies were due to labor shortages. Approximately 80% of federal funds spent on workforce development depend on encouraging students to complete a four-year degree, despite less than 40% of Americans completing college, Turmail said.
“There is a terrible lack of exposing future workers to areas such as construction and teaching them the skills they need,” he said. “Complete that, we don’t provide a lot of legal routes for people born to come and work in construction outside of the US.”
The house under construction in Altadena, where immigration agents visited earlier this month.
(Myung J. Chun/Los Angeles Times)
Harris said the recently attacked Altadena project had a lot of momentum ahead of the attack. The original home was burning on Eaton Fire, but the foundation survived, so the developer, who requested anonymity for fear of ice retaliation, bought the lot with plans to rebuild the exact home that was there.
Permission was secured soon, and the developers hoped to complete the house by December. But as immigrant raids continue throughout LA, that timeline could be at risk.
“It’s insane for me that in the wake of natural disasters they choose to create trouble and fear about those reconstructions,” Harris said. “There’s a terrible housing shortage and they’re throwing wrenches into the development plan.”
Los Angeles property developer Claire des Brieres called the attack “phobia.”
“Even if you’re perfectly legal and everything is in place with your paper, I hope that it can be taken away,” she said. “You expect to be taken and harassed for what you look like, and you’ll either lose your job for the day or potentially longer.”
De Briere helped oversee Project Recovery, a group of public and private real estate professionals who compiled a report in March on what steps could be taken to speed up the revival of Parisades and Altadena.
The outlook for the attack and increased tariffs have increased uncertainty about how much it will cost to rebuild homes and commercial structures, she said. “Whenever there is unpredictability, the market will reflect that by increasing costs.”
The disappearance of undocumented workers exacerbates the labor shortage, which has become more pronounced in recent years, as construction slows down due to rising costs of materials that could become even more expensive due to high interest rates and new tariffs.
Costs have risen over the past seven years for all kinds of construction, including homes and apartments,” said Devang Shah, principal of Genesis Builders, a company that focuses on rebuilding Altadena homes for those chased by fire. “We don’t see a lot of construction work going on.”
Slowing has led to a shortage of workers as many contractors have not found enough work, as many contractors have come out of integration or business, Shah said.
“When we start thinking about Altadena and Palisade, “a limited subcontractor can create headwinds,” he said.
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