An annual report released earlier this month by the Associated General Contractors (AGC) of America, the nation’s largest construction union, found that nearly one-third of construction companies in Tennessee lost workers over immigration enforcement in the last six months, including 9 percent who reported that immigration authorities conducted enforcement operations at their construction sites.
The AGC 2026 Construction Outlook report for Tennessee, released on January 8, found that 9 percent of responding firms in the Volunteer State reported that a federal immigration official visited a job site or construction office in the last six months.
Double this number of respondents, 18 percent, told AGC that it lost workers because of confirmed or rumored job site enforcement. Another 32 percent of respondents said their companies were not directly affected, but their subcontractors lost workers due to job-site enforcement or fears of enforcement.
Concerns over immigration enforcement also appeared in other portions of the report, as 23 percent of respondents confirmed adjusting “project schedules or scopes” due to labor or material shortages caused by deportations.
Immigration ranked near the bottom of concerns for 2026; however, just 18 percent cited labor shortages caused by deportations as a problem they anticipated this year. The only issues considered important by fewer construction firms were advancing technology, marked by 14 percent of respondents, and fears of international wars or disruptions to the supply chain, which zero respondents reported.
Tennessee was mostly consistent with the national average, as the AGC 2026 Construction Hiring and Business Outlook report for the nation found that 33 percent of construction companies were impacted by immigration enforcement at some level.
However, the state ranked slightly higher in the number of reported job site enforcement operations, with AGC reporting that just 6 percent of firms reported job site enforcement over the last six months across the United States, compared to 9 percent in Tennessee.
Nationally, 11 percent of respondents also reported that some of their workers did not show up at job sites, either due to rumors or actual job-site enforcement, while 24 percent reported that their subcontractors lost workers.
Tennessee Senate Majority Leader Jack Johnson (R-Franklin) recently announced that over 6,200 illegal aliens had been removed from Tennessee under President Donald Trump. About 73 percent already had a criminal record, according to Johnson.
Republicans in the Tennessee General Assembly recently unveiled a package immigration legislation that would create state-level offenses for illegally entering the United States, or remaining in the country in defiance of a final deportation order, impose new penalties to illegal immigrant drivers and companies who hire them, require state and local government entities to use E-Verify, and restrict local counties and cities from giving public benefits to illegal aliens.
The U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced last month that more than 2.5 million illegal aliens left the country during Trump’s first year back in the White House, with over 605,000 deportations by federal authorities and 1.9 million self deportations.
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Tom Pappert is a 2025 recipient of the Dao Prize and the lead reporter for The Tennessee Star. He also reports for the Star News Network. Follow Tom on X. Email tips to [email protected].
Why are these construction folks hiring illegals in the first place? Make them use E-verify and prove that their workers and subs are legal. I sure as heck do not feel sorry for them or those here illegally.
Tough. Don’t hire illegal immigrants.
Gee, what does that tell you???? STOP HIRING ILLEGAL ALIENS. At our local Lowe’s there is a Flock camera set up at the entrance to the lumber end of the store that reads plates as they enter the parking lot.
The companies should be fined for hiring illegals in the first place.
The owners should see jail time as well.