Politics
L.A. fires: Will Trump immigration crackdown slow rebuilding?
The breeze was tinged with smoke from the fires that burned through Pacific Palisades as dozens of workers finished up the brick facade of a sprawling home in the tony Brentwood Park neighborhood.
The talk was in Spanish, an unremarkable fact given the language has been the lingua franca on most construction sites in Southern California for decades.
But that fact could be at the center of a leviathan clash of interests: the need to rebuild thousands of homes that were incinerated on a scale the city had never seen before, and the promises of an incoming president to deport a good percentage of the workers who would be needed to get that colossal undertaking done.
“Everyone is scared,” said Melvin Merino, 36, a painter at the home. Workers “are reluctant to talk about their immigration status out of fear it may be shared with immigration officials.”
Even in a city that is supportive of the immigrant population, his fears could make him and others cautious to take jobs in high profile areas such as the fire zone.
President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to execute the largest mass deportation program of unauthorized immigrants in U.S. history and “seal” the borders from immigrants. Trump’s border czar, Tom Homan, promises to bring back worksite enforcement.
Immigrants rights groups are bracing for widespread roundups and expulsions, holding legal workshops up and down the state in a bid to aid residents who might be stopped by federal authorities.
The threat is rattling the construction industry, which already has a labor shortage. The wildfires that leveled an estimated 12,000 structures in Pacific Palisades and Altadena will only intensify demand. As homeowners turn to contractors for the slow process of rebuilding, an immigration policy that deports undocumented workers or forces them underground may hinder the recovery.
“It’s really a perfect storm,” said Jennie Murray, president of the National Immigration Forum, a group that advocates for bipartisan immigration policies.
An estimated 41% of construction workers in California are immigrants, according to the National Assn. of Home Builders. But experts say that number is far higher in residential construction — much of which is nonunionized and not as heavily regulated as large capital projects. The pay is lower and many workers don’t have the legal status to be in the United States.
Trump officials have said the administration will prioritize criminals and those posing a threat to public safety, but their plans have yet to take clear shape. Many employers fear the administration will cast a wider net, and that could ravage industries such as hospitality, manufacturing, construction and agricultural, all heavily dependent on immigrant labor.
Yesenia Acosta leans in to get advice from an attorney during a public meeting to provide information about constitutional rights for immigrants by a consortium of legal counsel, attorneys, organizations, and community experts at the Robert F. Kennedy High School Auditorium in Delano, Calif.
(Tomas Ovalle / For The Times)
This month, immigration enforcement actions by Customs and Border Patrol in Bakersfield spread anxiety among agricultural workers after dozens of people were detained in a multiday operation. Accounts of Border Patrol stopping people spread on social media.
Growers reported a drop in workers showing up to their jobs, and advocacy groups saw a surge of frightened families show up at legal workshops on how to protect themselves against deportation.
In Southern California, a similar situation could hurt not only the rebuilding efforts but also preparations for the 2028 Summer Olympics.
“There simply aren’t enough roofers and drywallers and all these other skilled trades in this country,” said Nik Theodore, a professor at the University of Illinois Chicago who studies disaster recovery in the Department of Urban Planning and Policy. “Then you put the backdrop of the campaign promises of the incoming Trump administration around immigration enforcement and deportations, we’re facing a quite serious situation.”
The U.S. construction industry has about 276,000 jobs that are unfilled. To address the tight labor market, the National Assn. of Home Builders has advocated for a guest worker program.
Figures vary but some estimates put the percentage of unauthorized workers in construction in the U.S. between 13% and 23%. Last year, California Lutheran University’s Center for Economics and Social Issues analyzed data from 2019 and found the figure was 28.7% in California and that those workers added $23 billion of value to the industry that year.
“There’s definitely labor shortages around the corner,” said Frank Hawk, executive secretary-treasurer of the Western States Regional Council of Carpenters, which represents 90,000 union members in 12 Western states. Even before the wildfires, there were concerns about the region’s ability to deliver skilled workers for the Olympics, he said.
And he said that workers without legal status will be concerned about traveling far, where they might be vulnerable to immigration officials.
Others may go underground or just leave the country altogether. Builders worry that will further constrain the market, putting pressure on costs.
The Cal Lutheran study found that the median hourly wage of undocumented workers in California in all sectors was $13 — half the $26 that U.S.-born workers made. Authorized immigrants earned $19 an hour.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, who has outlined plans to boost assistance to millions of citizens who may face deportation, suggested this week that Los Angeles should use immigrant Mexican workers.
“When reconstruction process begins, of course it will require a lot of labor, and there’s no better construction workers than Mexicans,” she said during a news conference where she pushed back on right-wing portrayals of migrants as criminals.
A drone image shows the aftermath of the Palisades fire above Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu between Rambla Pacifico Street and Carbon Canyon Road on Jan. 15.
(Brian van der Brug / Los Angeles Times)
One of the nation’s worst disasters, the Southern California fires have been compared to Hurricane Katrina on the Gulf Coast, where a workforce of Latino immigrants poured in to rebuild the region. In Paradise, Calif., where fires swept through the heavily wooded Northern California town and killed 85 people six years ago, the rebuilding process still draws about 5,000 workers daily — many Latino immigrants — to erect walls, lay foundations and put in piping.
A lot of immigrants will flock to disaster zones in hopes of finding jobs, said Pablo Alvarado, co-executive director of the National Day Laborers Organizing Network.
After Katrina, he said, “every five minutes employers were stopping at a day laborer corner and actually they were paying good.”
“But that’s where the injustices come,” he said. Unauthorized immigrants are especially vulnerable to unsafe conditions and other abuses. Many post-Katrina workers complained about not getting paid what they earned.
Merino, the painter, fears contractors won’t hire unauthorized immigrants to avoid dealing with federal authorities. Others think those with established contract work will probably keep getting hired, while newer immigrants may have trouble getting jobs.
If mass deportations were carried out, research shows the fallout could ripple through the entire building industry, leading to net job losses among U.S.-born construction workers.
“If you don’t have people framing the house, installing the drywall, you cannot have the American electricians and plumbers come in and do their work,” said Dayin Zhang, an assistant professor in real estate and urban economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Zhang co-wrote a recent study examining a U.S. immigration enforcement program that began in 2008 and resulted in the deportation of more than 300,000 people. The study found a large and persistent reduction in the construction workforce and residential homebuilding in counties after deportations occurred. Home prices also increased as the effects of a reduced housing supply dominated those of lesser demand from deported immigrants.
Widespread deportations are likely to have larger effects in Los Angeles because of the higher numbers of construction workers living in the area illegally, Zhang said.
“If anything, I would think that would be a much bigger distortion to the labor supply in the construction sector in the L.A. area,” he said.
In Malibu, Alberto Garcia, 38, an immigrant from Honduras, was volunteering Friday at the Malibu Community Labor Exchange.
“We’re very worried about deportations,” he said. Garcia hopes to secure a construction job in Malibu but fears any hiccup in his asylum case could hurt him.
“I was really trying to do everything by the book,” he said, flustered. “All we can do is put our trust in God.”
Another volunteer, Alejandro Perez, 45, who migrated from Mexico, applied for asylum but is uncertain about his status. He and other workers say they have no other option but to step out of their house each morning and find work.
“The need for food, bills and rent money obligate you to look for work,” he said. He specializes in roofing, drywall installation and painting, but worries contractors may not hire him because of his status.
Others are likely to stay home, said Oscar Malodrago, director of the Malibu Community Labor Exchange.
Hector Reyes owns a construction business that caters to clients on the Westside, including Pacific Palisades, Bel-Air and Westwood. He is typical of many immigrants who work in the trade.
Reyes gained skills on the job, eventually learned English, obtained a green card and became licensed. He built a decades long career in the trade that allowed him to raise a family, three children and a middle-class life.
Reyes has a small crew including his sons, but the threats feel familiar, reminiscent of the 1980s when immigration raids were common on worksites. “People were hiding in boxes, in attics.”
“I know people that don’t live here legally, but they are very decent people, they work their butts off,” he said.
Theodore said that, deportations or not, the city will depend on immigrants.
“I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say Los Angeles is gonna be rebuilt by immigrant workers,” he said.
Politics
Graham pushes back on Tillis’ criticism of Noem, Miller for labeling man killed by Border Patrol a ‘terrorist’
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Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., on Tuesday defended Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller after Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., criticized the pair for labeling the U.S. citizen killed by Border Patrol agents in Minneapolis as a “domestic terrorist.”
Tillis was the first Senate Republican to call for Noem to be fired after the killing of Alex Pretti, 37, who was shot by federal agents as he was recording immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis over the weekend.
“What she’s done in Minnesota should be disqualifying. She should be out of a job,” Tillis told reporters earlier on Tuesday. “It’s just amateur-ish. It’s terrible. It’s making the president look bad on policy that he won on. [President Donald Trump] won on a strong message on immigration. Now, nobody’s talking about that. … They’re talking about the incompetence of the leader of Homeland Security.”
Noem and Miller “told the president before they even had an incident report whatsoever that the person who died was a terrorist. That is amateur hour at its worst,” Tillis added.
SENATE GOP CRITICS SAY NOEM ‘NEEDS TO GO’ AMID FALLOUT FROM MINNEAPOLIS SHOOTINGS
Sen. Lindsey Graham defended Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem and Homeland Security Advisor Stephen Miller on Tuesday. (AP Photo/Susan Walsh)
Responding to Tillis, Graham said someone “must have a very high opinion of themselves” if they believe they can get President Donald Trump to distance himself from Miller.
“I’ve known Stephen Miller for a very long time. We have our differences, but we have more in common. When the clock strikes midnight for President Trump, there will be very few by his side. One will be Stephen Miller. If you don’t get that, you’ve missed a lot. No one has helped Trump more than Stephen Miller,” Graham told Fox News’ Chad Pergram.
“To convince yourself that you can get Trump to distance himself from Stephen Miller, you must have a very high opinion of themselves,” he continued.
The South Carolina lawmaker added: “To my Republican colleagues, you need to understand that the President’s confidence in Stephen Miller has been rock solid and unshakable. And Miller is part of that group.”
Sen. Thom Tillis was the first Senate Republican to call for DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to be fired after the killing of Alex Pretti. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
Alex Pretti, 37, was shot and killed on Saturday by Border Patrol agents while recording federal immigration operations in Minneapolis. An ICU nurse, Pretti appeared to be attempting to attend to a woman agents knocked down when he was sprayed with an irritant, pushed to the ground and beaten. An agent was seen pulling Pretti’s lawfully owned gun from his waistband before other agents fired several shots and killed him.
Noem was quick to label Pretti a “domestic terrorist,” and Miller characterized him as things such as a “would-be assassin,” both of which are unsubstantiated claims that sparked bipartisan pushback.
The White House has sought to distance itself from the comments by Noem and Miller, with White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt saying she has “not heard the president characterize” Pretti that way.
But despite calls from Democrat and Republican lawmakers to oust Noem over her response to Pretti’s killing, Trump expressed confidence in the secretary to continue leading DHS.
NY POST, WSJ, NY TIMES AND WASHINGTON POST ALIGN AGAINST TRUMP ADMIN OVER ICE OPERATION IN MINNEAPOLIS
President Donald Trump expressed confidence in DHS Secretary Kristi Noem to continue leading the department. (Demetrius Freeman/The Washington Post via Getty Images)
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“I think she’s doing a very good job. The border is totally secure. You know, you forget we had a border that I inherited where millions of people were coming through. Now we have a border where no one is coming through. They come into our country only legally,” Trump told reporters on Tuesday.
Asked if he agreed with Noem and Miller labeling Pretti as a “domestic terrorist” and an “assassin,” the president said he had not heard those remarks.
“Well, I haven’t heard that. He shouldn’t have been carrying a gun,” Trump said.
Trump also said the shooting was a “very sad situation” and he wants a “very honorable and honest investigation” that he wants to see for himself.
The Los Angeles City Council voted Tuesday to approve a law aimed at boosting transparency at the Charter Reform Commission, by requiring that members of that panel disclose any private talks they have with the city’s elected officials.
The vote comes about two months before the commission, which began its work in July, is scheduled to finish its deliberations and deliver a list of recommendations to the council.
Councilmember Monica Rodriguez, who proposed the ordinance, said she has been trying since August to pass a measure requiring the disclosure of such private conversations, known as “ex parte” communications. That effort was greeted with “nearly six months of stonewalling,” she said.
“While this is an important victory for oversight and transparency, government accountability shouldn’t be this hard to secure,” she said.
The ordinance, which also applies to communications between commissioners and elected officials’ staff, is expected to go into effect in about a month. Meanwhile, the 13-member Charter Reform Commission approved its own policy a week ago requiring the disclosure of private conversations between its members and city elected officials.
Some government watchdogs say the disclosures are needed to prevent council members and other city elected officials from seeking to dictate the details of the recommendations that are ultimately issued by the commission. The volunteer citizens panel is currently looking at such ideas as increasing the size of the council and potentially changing the duties of citywide elected officials.
“If the public is going to trust the outcomes of our charter reform process, it has to be transparent and credible,” Commissioner Carla Fuentes, who pushed for the new disclosure policy at its Jan. 21 meeting.
The commission has not yet voted on a proposal to also require disclosure of communications with elected officials’ staff.
It is also looking at the idea of adopting ranked choice voting, where voters list all of the candidates in order of preference, and switching the city to a multi-year budget process.
Councilmember Bob Blumenfield raised warnings about the council’s vote on Tuesday, saying charter reform is substantively different from the 2021 redistricting process. Council members should be engaging in conversations with its volunteer commissioners, to help them better understand how the city is run, Blumenfield said.
Those communications will ensure the commissioners make an informed decision what to recommend for the ballot later this year.
“I don’t want this message to be that it’s somehow bad for council members and the mayor and elected officials to be engaging in this process,” he said. “To the contrary, I think we need to double down our engagement. We need to speak to those commissioners. They need to learn a lot more about how this city really works for this thing to be effective.”
The commission is scheduled to take up the motion to disclose staffer conversations at its next meeting on Feb. 7.
Rob Quan, an organizer with the group Unrig LA, said he doesn’t want to see a repeat of 2021, when members of the citizens commission on redistricting were regularly contacted by council members’ aides. Those ex parte communications were not disclosed, he said.
“If it didn’t apply to staff, we would simply be reinforcing the power of the staff, which have from Day One been the most problematic aspect of this commission,” said Quan, whose group focuses on government oversight.
He and a group of other transparency activists have proposed a total ban on ex parte communication, which hasn’t been considered by the current commission.
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House Democrats ramped up pressure on Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday, calling for her firing and warning that impeachment proceedings would follow if she remains in office, citing deadly actions by federal agents in Minnesota.
The calls came from both House Democratic leadership and Judiciary Committee Democrats, marking a coordinated escalation from public condemnation to formal impeachment threats.
In a joint statement, House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Democratic Whip Katherine Clark and Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar accused the Trump administration of using federal law enforcement to carry out deadly violence.
“Taxpayer dollars are being weaponized by the Trump administration to kill American citizens, brutalize communities and violently target law-abiding immigrant families,” the leaders said. “The country is disgusted by what the Department of Homeland Security has done.”
NOEM SAYS SHE GRIEVES FOR FAMILY AFTER CBP-RELATED SHOOTING IN MINNEAPOLIS, VOWS THOROUGH INVESTIGATION
House Democrats ramped up pressure on DHS Secretary Kristi Noem on Tuesday. ( Al Drago/Getty Images)
The leaders warned that unless Noem is removed, impeachment proceedings would follow.
“Kristi Noem should be fired immediately, or we will commence impeachment proceedings in the House of Representatives,” the statement said.
“We can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
The demands come as Noem faces widespread criticism after federal agents killed two U.S. citizens in Minnesota this month.
Separately, Rep. Jamie Raskin of Maryland, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee, called on Judiciary Committee Chairman Jim Jordan, R-Ohio, to immediately begin impeachment proceedings if Noem is not fired or forced to resign.
“Unless Secretary Noem resigns or is fired, the Judiciary Committee’s Chairman, Jim Jordan, should immediately commence House Judiciary Committee impeachment proceedings to remove her from office,” Raskin said.
BORDER PATROL COMMANDER GREGORY BOVINO TO LEAVE MINNESOTA, AS TOM HOMAN TAKES OVER
Federal agents try to clear demonstrators near a hotel, using tear gas during a noise demonstration protest in response to federal immigration enforcement operations in Minneapolis. (Adam Gray/AP Photo)
Raskin accused Noem of overseeing what he described as unlawful killings and a subsequent cover-up.
“Far from condemning these unlawful and savage killings in cold blood, Secretary Noem immediately labeled Renée Good and Alex Pretti ‘domestic terrorists,’ blatantly lied about the circumstances of the shootings that took their lives, and attempted to cover up and blockade any legitimate investigation into their deaths,” he said.
Separately, Sen. John Fetterman, D-Pa., called on Trump to fire Noem directly on Tuesday.
In a post on X, the senator accused Noem of “betraying” the department’s central mission.
In a joint statement with other Democratic leaders, Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., accused the Trump administration of using federal law enforcement to carry out deadly violence. (Roberto Schmidt/Getty Images)
However, President Donald Trump confirmed on Tuesday that he has no plans to ask Noem to step down from her role.
Trump was asked about Noem’s status during a gaggle with reporters outside the White House. He told the press that he still thinks Noem is doing a “great job.”
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“Is Kristi Noem going to step down?” a reporter asked.
“No,” Trump responded bluntly.
He later said he believes she is doing a “very good job,” citing her role in closing down the border.
Fox News’ Anders Hagstrom contributed to this report.
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Democrats demand Kristi Noem be fired or warn impeachment will follow
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