Austin Congressman Wants Answers on Construction Site Raid

A U.S. Congressman is calling for an investigation following an Immigration and Customs Enforcement raid at an East Austin construction site.

Rep. Greg Casar — a Democrat whose district stretches from East Austin down Interstate 35 into parts of downtown and central San Antonio — said the raid at a site off Riverside Drive on July 31 is one of several recent workplace disruptions in the region.

Casar said these types of raids violate the civil rights of those targeted and that his biggest concern is for the innocent people caught in the maelstrom of the raids KEYE reported.

“They arrest innocent immigrants, sometimes undocumented, sometimes documented,” Casar said. “And in many cases, they’ve detained and arrested U.S. citizens.”

The vast majority of those detained through raids such as the one on July 31 scoop up people with no conviction or criminal record, Casar said, citing data from the Trump administration.

In a letter to Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, Casar called for transparency in the details of the raids, from the identities of the masked ICE agents conducting them as well as those detained or arrested, as well as where they have happened and the reasoning behind them.

David Chincanchan, policy director for the Workers Defense Action Fund joined the congressman at a news conference, noting that ICE zeros in on construction sites.

“You can hear the construction noises behind us,” Chincanchan said. “They targeted this place because it’s immigrant workers building our cities, it’s immigrant workers who are building our homes.”

The Austin raid is one of the latest examples of the construction and real estate industry’s labor force being cleaned out across the country, causing a worker shortage and dampening housing development.

The immigration crackdown has chilled demand for immigrant labor and is likely to make construction more expensive.

— Eric Weilbacher