U.S. Rep. Monica De La Cruz told a McAllen crowd Monday she is hunting for ways to open legal work lanes for migrant construction workers after builders warned that stepped-up immigration enforcement has brought projects across South Texas to a crawl. She raised the prospect of a construction-specific visa patterned on the agricultural H‑2A program and said she plans to sit down with the U.S. Department of Labor to see what is possible.
De La Cruz spoke after a closed-door meeting with the South Texas Builders Association, where contractors laid out how recent raids and arrests have emptied job sites, as reported by The Texas Tribune. Mario Guerrero, the association’s executive director, told the Tribune that builders are looking for clear answers on whether ICE must have warrants to arrest workers at construction sites and how companies are expected to respond in the moment. The same reporting notes that Immigration and Customs Enforcement arrested more than 9,100 people in South Texas over the past year.
De La Cruz's Bracero 2.0 Background
Last year De La Cruz filed H.R. 4367, the Bracero Program 2.0 Act, aimed at reworking pieces of the H‑2A agricultural visa system, according to Congress.gov. The bill calls for a centralized electronic filing portal, a regional pilot program for portable worker permits and higher wage floors. It would peg H‑2A pay to the hiring state’s minimum wage plus $2.00 an hour and lengthen typical contracts from 10 to 12 months. The measure is on file in the House but has not yet reached the floor for a vote.
Builders Say Raids Are Stalling Projects
Local industry players told representatives the enforcement blitz is hitting the bottom line. More than 300 people turned out for a November meeting where lumber, real estate and banking figures talked about stalled jobs and skeleton crews, according to MySA. Guerrero said contractors are asking federal officials for straightforward guidance so they know exactly how to respond if ICE agents step onto a job site. Builders have since been invited to follow up with congressional offices and are pushing for rules that spell out expectations while still keeping construction schedules from grinding to a halt.
Where A Federal Fix Might Come From
The notion of a guest-worker pipeline outside of agriculture is already circulating in Washington. This fall, Rep. Lloyd Smucker reintroduced the Essential Workers for Economic Advancement Act, which would create an H‑2C visa for year-round nonfarm positions, per Congress.gov. Backers say an H‑2C pilot could help employers plug chronic labor gaps in construction and other trades while baking in recruitment rules and worker protections. Any such bill would still have to clear committee work and a round of negotiations before ever seeing a floor vote.
What’s Next For South Texas
De La Cruz told The Texas Tribune she plans to meet with the Department of Labor to map out next steps and said her top concern is keeping the South Texas economy on solid footing. While Congress debates, executive-branch moves have been more modest: the Department of Homeland Security published a final rule taking effect Oct. 2, 2025, that lets USCIS begin electronic processing earlier in the pipeline for certain H‑2A petitions, according to the Federal Register. For contractors staring at open spots on their crews, the immediate ask is less about long-term visa reform and more about straightforward enforcement and compliance rules while the larger policy fight plays out in Washington.
