House-Passed Bill Would Help Keep a Bad Labor Situation from Worsening

The House this week approved legislation that would provide permanent legal status to more than 100,000 workers in the construction industry holding Temporary Protected Status (TPS) or participating in the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.

H.R. 6, the American Dream and Promise Act, would allow Dreamers (undocumented immigrants brought to the U.S. illegally as children and who grew up knowing America as their only home) and TPS beneficiaries to continue to reside and work legally in the United States.

Immigrants are an essential part of the construction industry, representing more than 25% of the workforce. TPS beneficiaries and DACA participants with legal work authorization have helped to fill part of the construction industry’s growing labor gap, yet their ability to contribute to our growing economy is at risk as the future of both programs remains uncertain and tied up in the courts. Without these valuable workers, existing labor shortages in the home building sector would be exacerbated, leading to project delays, increased costs for buyers, and slowed economic growth in the industry.

For these reasons, NAHB designated support for H.R. 6 as a “key vote” for the housing industry. NAHB supports the creation of a pathway whereby eligible Dreamers and TPS beneficiaries can adjust their status to legally and permanently remain in the U.S.

At the same time, NAHB believes that addressing the future of hardworking Dreamers and TPS beneficiaries is just one piece of the larger immigration puzzle. NAHB supports comprehensive reforms to fix the nation’s broken immigration system that will:

• Secure our nation’s borders;
• Enact a sensible employee verification system that works for small businesses and protects employers that make a good faith effort to comply; and
• Create a new market-based temporary guest worker program that allows construction employers to access legal foreign workers when domestic labor is in short supply.

NAHB looks forward to working with Congress in a bipartisan manner to advance further necessary reforms to our nation’s immigration system.

For more information, contact Alexis Moch at 800-368-5242 x8407.