The DOJ says it will sue Texas over floating Rio Grande migrant barriers

2023-07-22T09:05:00-04:00

The Justice Department has put Texas Gov. Greg Abbott on notice that it intends to file suit over a floating barrier wall he erected in the Rio Grande River to keep migrants from crossing the border illegally. The letter, a copy of which was obtained by USA TODAY, gives Texas officials until Monday to commit to removing the barrier. If there is no response, the Justice Department will pursue legal action, the letter warns.

The buoys, which are manufactured off-site by a U.S./Dubai-based company called Cochrane USA, were already challenged by a local kayaking rental business owner who claimed their presence was damaging to the river’s ecosystem. The DOJ’s letter was met with a tweet from Abbott wherein he claimed "sovereign authority” over the international border. The news comes in the wake of another DOJ investigation involving potentially life-threatening commands given to a Texas DPS trooper regarding the handling of migrants, an allegation which Abbott apparently denies.

As the U.S. loses more Mexican immigrants than it gains, the construction industry must adapt

2015-11-20T19:35:00-05:00

The number of Mexican immigrants living in the U.S. illegally has declined. In 2014, 5.6 million unauthorized immigrants from Mexico lived in the U.S., down by about 1 million since 2007. [...] Mexican unauthorized immigrants are more likely than unauthorized immigrants overall to work in the construction industry ... Among Mexican unauthorized immigrants ages 16 and older who were employed in 2012, 19% worked in construction and 13% worked in a wide range of businesses

The Wall Street Journal previously reported on the trend of declining Mexican-born workers in the U.S. construction industry, leading to a total loss of half a million laborers since 2007. According to a Pew Research Study in "Hispanic Trends" from March of 2015, citing the most recent data through 2012, unauthorized immigrants account for 14% of the construction workforce overall:

Unauthorized immigrants made up 5.1% of the nation’s labor force in 2012, numbering 8.1 million who were working or looking for work, according to previously published Pew Research estimates (Passel and Cohn, 2014). But as this new analysis shows, they account for a far higher share of the total workforce in specific jobs, notably farming (26%), cleaning and maintenance (17%), and construction (14%).

Read the full report from the Pew Research Center for more information on the current state of the Mexican immigrant population in the U.S.

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The DOJ says it will sue Texas over floating Rio Grande migrant barriers

As the U.S. loses more Mexican immigrants than it gains, the construction industry must adapt