President Trump’s hardline immigration policies are reverberating across real estate, tightening construction labor markets, spooking landlords and sparking political clashes in major cities as ICE raids have disrupted job sites from Los Angeles to Miami.
In South Florida, day laborers who once lined up outside Home Depot parking lots now linger with little work, as subcontractors steer clear of hiring crews that might invite scrutiny. The numbers tell part of the story: ICE detained more than 100 people at Tallahassee construction sites this spring. However, only six of the workers were illegal immigrants. Nicaraguan roofers with legal work permits were hauled off during a traffic stop in the Florida Keys and sent to deportation hearings.
Union reps say even workers with valid documents are being sidelined after sudden changes in immigration status or outright mistakes in the E-Verify system. For highly specialized trades, like industrial painters at Disney World, losing workers mid-project means costly delays and going back to square one on training.
Los Angeles builders have been experiencing their own version of that uncertainty. With 41 percent of California’s construction workforce foreign-born, raids have added new risk to a labor market already stretched thin.
The withdrawal of 700 active-duty Marines this week, along with earlier National Guard redeployments, may ease tensions after weeks of protests, but the optics linger. State and city leaders, including Governor Gavin Newsom and Mayor Karen Bass, blasted the Marine presence, arguing it only inflamed public anger. Now, with most of the troops gone, developers are left to wonder whether immigration sweeps will quiet down — or if federal enforcement will continue to disrupt projects as demand for labor spikes in wildfire-rebuilding regions.
New York, meanwhile, remains a different battleground. Trump has repeatedly blasted the city as a “sanctuary” jurisdiction, vowing to challenge its protections for undocumented residents. That friction could grow if federal enforcement ramps up in markets where Trump’s policies clash with local rules designed to shield tenants and workers from deportation threats. For developers and landlords, the patchwork of state and federal approaches means more legal uncertainty.
The impacts don’t stop at job sites. Trump’s immigration push is showing up in other corners of the market, too. Landlords from Atlanta to Los Angeles have received subpoenas demanding tenant files — requests that legal experts say often don’t require compliance but can easily lead to “overcompliance” and potential Fair Housing violations. A Chicago landlord paid $80,000 for threatening to call immigration on his tenants, the first major case under Illinois’ immigrant tenant protections.
For now, though, the construction side of the industry is staring down a very different reality.
There was plenty of other news this week. Affordable housing developer Sola Impact faces obstacles, billionaire Amancio Ortega’s South Florida spending spree and Meyer Chetrit and other developers are accused of self-dealing.
Sola Impact, whose for-profit affordable housing business attracted praise from electeds and celebrities, faces trouble with its model
Sola Impact, the Los Angeles-based real estate firm known for an irresistibly capitalist approach to building affordable housing affordably, has been facing major obstacles that could jeopardize its plans and poke holes in its idealistic pitch. Led by Martin Muoto, the firm departed from the accepted method of relying on nonprofits and government tax credits to create affordable units. Instead, Sola Impact’s thesis was to bring in private funding and then keep costs down. But the industry, regulators and investors began asking questions about some of the firm’s practices.
Chetrit lender alleges “intentional self-dealing” in foreclosure case, pushes for receiver
The Chetrit family is facing mounting legal trouble as lenders and the New York City officials pile on accusations of self-dealing, mismanagement and neglect across its portfolio. A lender is pushing for a receiver at 500 and 512 Seventh Avenue, alleging Meyer Chetrit and partners diverted more than $1 million in tenant security deposits, $300,000 of which allegedly went to Chetrit-affiliated projects, and failed to collect $1 million in back rent from their own development firm.
When cash is king: Inside Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega’s South Florida investments
Spanish billionaire Amancio Ortega is on a South Florida spending spree, with $440 million in office and multifamily deals closed or pending this summer. Ortega’s Ponte Gadea is poised to close the year’s biggest office sale with its $275 million all-cash purchase of Miami’s Sabadell Financial Center.
Slate Property Group to buy Stewart Hotel from Isaac Chetrit, Sioni
David Schwartz’s Slate Property Group is in the process of acquiring the Stewart Hotel and will seek to turn the shuttered Midtown hotel into permanent affordable housing. Slate and the nonprofit Breaking Ground are in the process of buying the hotel from Jack Yadidi’s Sioni Group and Isaac Chetrit’s Patriarch Equities for around $275 million.
Todd Glaser, Posners close on Sonny Kahn’s waterfront Miami Beach estate, plan spec mansion asking $300M
Todd Glaser and the Posner Group just closed one of Miami Beach’s priciest deals this year, and they’re already planning to build a spec mansion asking $300 million — which would set a U.S. record for a residential sale. Glaser and the Posners paid $105 million for Sonny Kahn’s 2.3-acre North Bay Road waterfront estate, which Kahn bought for $2.4 million in 1991.
How real estate rules led to Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill
Many New Yorkers are aghast at the Medicaid and SNAP cuts in the Big, Beautiful Bill. But some of those same people helped make the bill possible by opposing development, costing the city population and therefore congressional seats. Without their narrow majority in the House of Representatives, Republicans would never have been able to pass a bill that cuts billions of dollars in New York’s safety-net funding.
Chicago multifamily landlords land $250M in refi deals in tricky debt market
A string of recent refinancing deals for Chicago area apartment buildings totaling about $250 million in debt show that the market’s strong metrics are making up for the challenges posed by high interest rates and political uncertainty. A lack of new supply entering the market is driving rent growth that is attracting investors who may be spooked by recent oversupply concerns in the Sun Belt.
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Construction
South Florida
Fear of ICE raids creates chilling effect at South Florida construction sites
Residential
Los Angeles
ICE raids in Los Angeles spook homebuilding industry mid labor shortages
Politics
National
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