Immigration raids in South Texas starting to hit economy

Wall Street Journal: The situation is becoming familiar across the Rio Grande Valley, where trade groups are raising alarms about aggressive immigration enforcement wreaking economic havoc. Construction delays threaten higher prices for buyers and lower margins for builders. Some builders said they just hope to break even on delayed projects. Materials suppliers are laying off employees. One local concrete company filed for bankruptcy protection, citing a drop-off in sales because of immigration raids as the reason.

“They are basically taking everyone in there working, whether they have proper documentation or not,” said Mario Guerrero, chief executive of the South Texas Builders Association. Guerrero added that he voted for President Trump, along with most of the region, and supports deportations of criminals, but “when you are terrorizing jobsites, people are afraid to go to work.”…