On March 14, President Donald Trump signed an executive order that, among other actions, rescinded former President Joe Biden’s Executive Order 14026, Increasing the Minimum Wage for Federal Contractors.

On Nov. 22, 2021, the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division issued its final rule implementing President Biden’s order, which applied to all workers performing work on or in connection with covered federal contracts. The final rule increased the minimum wage to $15 per hour on Jan. 30, 2022, and indexed the wage to inflation. As of Jan. 1, 2025, the minimum wage had increased to $17.75.

ABC submitted comments opposing the rule when it was proposed. ABC asserted that while most of ABC’s federal contractor members already pay the vast majority of their workers higher than the minimum wage, the rule ignored Congress’s authority, failed to establish a market-driven approach and needlessly increased compliance burdens.

Next, the WHD will likely formally rescind the final rule through the rulemaking process.

On March 12, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin announced the agency will be working with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to revise the definition of “waters of the United States” subject to Clean Water Act regulation and permitting.

Administrator Zeldin stated that the purpose of the review will be to ensure clear and consistent rules for the regulated community and bring the EPA into full compliance with the U.S. Supreme Court’s holding in Sackett v. Environmental Protection Agency, while continuing to protect America’s navigable waters from pollution.

The EPA and USACE also issued a new guidance document reversing aspects of the Biden administration’s approach to CWA enforcement. The guidance directs field offices to more closely comply with Sackett’s direction that adjacent wetlands subject to CWA jurisdiction must have a continuous surface connection to traditional navigable waters, to the extent that it is difficult to determine where the water ends and the wetland begins.

ABC issued a statement applauding President Donald Trump and Administrator Zeldin for taking swift action to address WOTUS and provide important clarifications for contractors.

As the first step in the regulatory process, the EPA and USACE released a Federal Register notice, WOTUS Notice, The Final Response to SCOTUS. The notice requests recommendations on how the agencies can best improve WOTUS and CWA enforcement through future guidance and rulemaking efforts.

Comments on this notice are due 30 days after it is published in the Federal Register. ABC plans to submit comments.

The EPA and USACE also plan to schedule a number of in-person and virtual listening sessions for stakeholders to provide feedback. Information on these sessions will soon be available on the EPA’s website.

Mike Choutka, CEO Hensel Phelps and Construction Safety Week Chair 2025

Making a Difference in Safety

Construction Safety Week is now in its 11th year and remains dedicated to promoting a stronger safety culture in the construction industry. In 2014, 40 companies recognized the need to elevate the conversation around safety. Despite being industry competitors, they united under the shared mission of bringing everyone home safely from every jobsite. This common goal continues to foster collaboration across organizations and shape the future of safety across the industry.

Construction Safety Week has continued to evolve and grow into a powerful movement making the industry safer, but there is still room to improve. In 2023, the construction industry accounted for 1,075 workplace fatalities, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. That number is something the industry is making every effort to reduce through education and resources. Organizations participating in Construction Safety Week are provided with tools to engage their teams and share best practices to improve jobsite safety. This is a great time to evaluate processes and prioritize impact, but committing to focusing on safety year-round is also essential.

Setting the Tone for Safety

Every person on a construction site plays a vital role in ensuring each job is completed safely, but the role of the foreman is crucial to all aspects of the jobsite. This includes managing productivity and ensuring a safe environment. With an intimate connection to the team members, the foreman is the direct link between the team members and leadership. They are the eyes and ears of the superintendent and are in a unique position to ensure that the work is completed timely, safely, and according to plan.

With this level of responsibility, the foreman needs an equal level of support from leadership and their team when facing challenges that can feel outside of their control. Predetermined timelines, complex projects, and employee skillsets are some of these factors that can create barriers to their success as leaders in the field. From the craft professionals to the foreman to the superintendents and other leadership in the organization, everyone shares responsibility for the safety and execution of the work.

Effective communication at every level of the team is critical, with the foreman serving as the central link. Empowering these individuals to manage their crews, maintain safety standards and to communicate when they feel the plan needs to be adjusted or there is a safety risk is essential for ensuring safe outcomes. This also leads to deeper trust and respect within teams and demonstrates the value each team member brings to their collective success. Recognizing their role in making the right decisions helps them manage the team more effectively and plays an important role in industry safety.

Providing the Framework for Safety

In addition to various resources made available for companies to utilize during this week-long initiative, Construction Safety Week also provides a framework, empowering companies to guide meaningful conversations and activities centered around safety. A new campaign theme is introduced every year to focus the efforts of Construction Safety Week. This year’s theme is All in Together, which represents the industry’s collective dedication to safety. This theme is reinforced through Daily Topics assigned to each day of Safety Week to help engage teams in discussion and encourage open sharing of ideas. The 2025 Daily Topics emphasize the core components of this year’s theme: Plan, Own and Commit.

On Monday, the focus of the day is to plan with precision, emphasizing the importance of starting every day with a well-thought-out plan that accounts for all aspects of every task. By identifying potential risks from the start, the team can help mitigate risks through active collaboration and communication.

Tuesday highlights identifying high energy hazards. While understanding that there is no way to eliminate all risks, focusing on eliminating these high-energy hazards can make a critical difference in safety on a jobsite.

Wednesday reinforces the notion that everyone owns their part when it comes to safety. This comprehensive approach, where everyone comes together and takes ownership, fosters a stronger safety culture.

Thursday, the focus shifts to engaging and empowering team members, creating a team committed to safety. By encouraging and empowering this commitment to safety, organizations build a culture of trust and mutual respect.

The week concludes with a call to commit to excellence. Together, we can create a safer and stronger industry for everyone through dedication and continuously striving to improve.

These topics are great assets for the company as a whole but are guiding posts for the foreman as they lead on the jobsite.

How To Get Involved in Construction Safety Week 2025

This week-long campaign highlights resources to improve safety programs and promote safety across the company. Team members and leadership will gain access to resources that will enhance the safety culture in their organization. As the construction industry continues making strides in safety by investing time and resources toward education, companies continue to commit to safety initiatives like Construction Safety Week. By doing so, they are demonstrating that they are leaders in the industry. Construction Safety Week encourages organizations to commit to the safety movement in 2025 as sponsors, members, or advocates. This year’s Safety Week takes place May 5-9, 2025. Learn more about Construction Safety Week 2025, how our safety initiatives can help your team recommit to safety for the year, and how to get involved by visiting constructionsafetyweek.com.

ABC is proud to be a sponsor of Construction Safety Week, May 5-9. In a Construction Safety Week Primer webinar, a CEO panel discusses the initiative that extends as a call to action for the entire contracting community to commit to a safer industry. Watch to learn more about how to participate, the resources available and explore this year’s theme, "All in Together." The panel includes speakers Adam Jelen, president and CEO of Gilbane Building Co., Mike Bellaman, ABC president and CEO, Mike Choutka, chairman and CEO Hensel Phelps, as well as moderator Joe Xavier, ABC senior director of health and safety.

President Donald Trump has rescinded a controversial Biden administration executive order that attempted to expand the use of government-registered apprentices through federal contracts and grant programs.

“President Trump’s elimination of Biden’s problematic EO is good news for taxpayers, the construction industry and the principles of free enterprise,” said Associated Builders and Contractors Vice President of Regulatory, Labor and State Affairs Ben Brubeck. “The Biden policy would have increased costs on federal and federally assisted taxpayer-funded construction projects by reducing competition from some of the best contractors that do not participate in the voluntary government-registered apprenticeship system for a variety of valid reasons.”

President Trump’s March 14 EO 14236, Additional Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions, revoked 19 Biden administration EOs and actions, including Biden’s Executive Order 14119, Scaling and Expanding the Use of Registered Apprenticeships in Industries and the Federal Government and Promoting Labor-Management Forums, signed March 6, 2024.

In a March 6, 2024, statement on the Biden EO, ABC expressed concerns that any new apprenticeship mandates or incentives on federal contracts and grants would also strain America’s underperforming government-registered apprenticeship system.

“As was the case when ABC evaluated the Biden apprenticeship EO last year, the government data is clear: construction’s government-registered apprenticeship system, which had an enrollment of 290,000 apprentice participants and graduated less than 40,000 apprentices in FY 2024, is not keeping up with construction industry demand for skilled craft professionals,” said Brubeck.

According to a Jan. 24 ABC analysis, the construction industry will need to attract an estimated 439,000 net new workers in 2025 to meet anticipated demand for construction services.

“In addition, the Biden apprenticeship EO was a product of his White House Task Force on Worker Organizing and Empowerment and disproportionately benefited unionized contractors and construction trade union members as part of the Biden administration’s campaign to bolster unions,” said Brubeck. “About 69% of all construction industry GRAP participants are in union programs, so it was another anti-competitive tactic––in addition to illegal government-mandated project labor agreement schemes–– that the Biden administration implemented to steer taxpayer-funded construction contracts primarily to unionized contractors and union labor.”

“ABC appreciates President Trump’s recognition that a record-high 89.7% of the construction industry’s workforce does not belong to a union and that America benefits when all construction workers are welcome to compete on a level playing field to rebuild their communities,” said Brubeck.

ABC supports GRAPs and offers more than 450 such education programs through ABC chapters across the country as part of its all-of-the-above approach to meet the workforce needs of the construction industry.

However, the flawed government-registered apprenticeship system is in need of many improvements, as outlined in ABC’s 2024 comments on a widely opposed Biden proposed rule overhauling the U.S. Department of Labor’s regulations on apprenticeships. On Dec. 2, 2024, ABC celebrated the Biden administration’s decision to withdraw its unpopular proposed rule that would have discouraged employer participation in the GRAP system by adding more costly bureaucracy and paperwork requirements and eliminated flexible, competency-based GRAPs that benefit apprentices and employers.

ABC will continue to provide members, construction industry and workforce development stakeholders with insights on apprenticeship and workforce development policies before the Trump administration and Congress.

Learn more at abc.org/apprenticeship.

President Donald Trump has rescinded a controversial Biden administration executive order that attempted to prioritize the award of federal government grants to private developers and state and local governments seeking federal assistance to build infrastructure, manufacturing and clean energy projects if they adopt project labor agreement requirements and other union-friendly policies.

“President Trump’s elimination of President Joe Biden’s politically motivated EO is a win for America’s construction workers and taxpayers,” said Associated Builders and Contractors Vice President of Regulatory, Labor and State Affairs Ben Brubeck. “President Biden’s EO was an election-season commemoration of four years of harmful policies that strongly incentivized inflationary and anti-competitive project labor agreements on federally assisted construction projects, which increase construction costs by 12% to 20%, reduce worker wages and effectively eliminate 90% of America’s construction industry workforce from building these projects because they are not members of a labor union.”

ABC identified more than $271 billion in federal funding subject to language and policies promoting PLA mandates and preferences that have resulted in reduced competition, delays and increased costs on federally assisted construction projects since former President Biden took office.

Analysis in a September 2024 ABC news release and ABC Newsline article highlighted how pro-PLA policy schemes undermine the efficient and economical delivery of taxpayer funded infrastructure, manufacturing and energy projects by steering work to unionized contractors and labor at the expense free enterprise, taxpayers and the broader construction industry.

President Trump’s March 14 EO 14236, Additional Rescissions of Harmful Executive Orders and Actions, revoked 19 Biden administration EOs and actions, including Executive Order 14126, Investing in America and Investing in American Workers, signed Sept. 6, 2024.

It is unclear if the Trump EO will revoke all of the Biden administration’s pro-PLA policies buried in federal agency regulations and subregulatory actions.

“President Trump has delivered an incredible victory for all Americans and ABC will continue to advocate for a fair and open competition EO and legislation that would eliminate all of President Biden’s pro-PLA policies and proactively prevent PLAs mandated by recipients of federal funding,” said Brubeck. “It appears this Trump EO does not eliminate Biden’s pro-PLA EO 14063 and related FAR rule mandating PLAs on direct federal construction projects of $35 million or more that is subject to ongoing litigation.”

On Jan. 9, ABC and 24 other construction and business groups in the Build America Local coalition sent a letter to President Trump requesting an executive order that would eliminate PLA mandates and preferences and restore fair and open competition on federal and federally assisted construction projects that would save taxpayers an estimated $10 billion annually.

More than a dozen blue state governments controlled by Democrat trifectas require or encourage the use of PLAs on taxpayer-funded construction projects, in the face of declining construction union membership across America. Recently, governors of Massachusetts, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Hawaii and Maryland have come under fire for issuing EOs pushing PLAs on state and state-assisted construction projects that are similar to Biden’s pro-PLA policies.

ABC celebrated a Jan. 19 decision by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims that ruled in favor of experienced ABC members and other federal contractors who filed 12 bid protests against three federal agencies that mandated PLAs in solicitations for construction services as a result of Biden’s EO 14063 and related final rule.

Since the ruling, Biden’s pro-PLA policy has been eliminated from solicitations for federal contracts to build the U.S. General Services Administration’s land port of entry projects and all U.S. Department of Defense projects. However, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs reinstated the Biden pro-PLA policy less than two weeks after they rescinded it.

ABC voiced strong support for the Fair and Open Competition Act (S.1064/H.R. 2126), reintroduced in the 119th Congress on March 14 by Sen. Todd Young, R-Ind., and Rep. Clay Higgins, R-La. This bill would eliminate government-mandated PLAs on federal and federally assisted construction projects and restore merit-based competition that encourages all qualified contractors to compete on a level playing field based on merit, experience, quality and safety in order to deliver the best projects at the best cost. Via this grassroots campaign, voters can urge their elected officials to join a record-high 91 House and 17 Senate original co-sponsors of this legislation to restore fair and open competition in government contracting.

Last summer, ABC testified before Congress in support of FOCA and highlighted harmful effects of the Biden administration’s pro PLA policies.

ABC will continue to provide ABC, the construction industry and taxpayer advocate stakeholders with insights on ABC’s fight against government-mandated PLAs.

On March 10, in a 67-32 vote, the U.S. Senate confirmed Lori Chavez-DeRemer to serve as secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor. Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Ted Budd, R-N.C., voted against Chavez-DeRemer, while seventeen Democrats voted for her. The Senate floor vote to confirm her follows a Feb. 19 Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee hearing and a Feb. 27 14-9 vote to advance her nomination.

On March 11, Chavez-DeRemer was sworn in, stating in a DOL news release, “I’m deeply grateful for this opportunity to continue serving my country, and I’ll work tirelessly to help President Trump put the American Worker First. This administration has a clear mandate to renew the American Dream for hardworking men and women across the country. As a small businesswoman and the daughter of a Teamster, I will act on my experience and work with business and labor to support good-paying jobs, grow our economy, and ensure every American can enjoy a comfortable retirement.” 

Kristen Swearingen, ABC vice president of legislative & political affairs, gave the following statement to Engineering News-Record regarding Chavez-DeRemer’s confirmation.

“ABC is hopeful that we can find common ground,” said Swearingen. “All Americans––nonunion and union––deserve a labor secretary and DOL leader who will create the conditions so that every worker and job creator can choose how to achieve their career dreams and prosper in a safe and healthy environment.”

Swearingen went on to say that ABC intends to hold Chavez-DeRemer to her confirmation testimony commitments in late February to protect all workers and support right-to-work laws and secret ballot elections. ABC, which represents mostly nonunion contractors, also said it still stands “vehemently opposed to the Protecting the Right to Organize Act and all of its components.”

Prior to President Donald Trump’s nomination of Chavez-DeRemer, the ABC-led Coalition for a Democratic Workplace expressed concern with her previous support for the PRO Act.

Chavez-DeRemer becomes the 30th labor secretary in U.S. history, and the first to be confirmed to the role since former Boston Mayor Marty Walsh left the Biden administration in early 2023.

On March 11, in a 217-213 vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed H.R. 1968, a continuing resolution to keep the government funded at current levels through the end of fiscal year 2025. Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., was the lone Republican to vote against the measure, while Rep. Jared Golden, D-Maine, was the only Democrat to vote in favor.

Passage of the CR is a major win for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and House Republicans, who navigated a slim GOP majority to get the bill across the finish line in the House as the March 14 government funding deadline rapidly approaches. Ahead of the vote, President Donald Trump called on House Republicans to “remain united” with “no dissent,” and went as far as making personal phone calls to reluctant members.

The measure now faces its final test in the GOP-controlled U.S. Senate, where it needs to reach the 60-vote threshold to overcome the Senate filibuster. “It’s going to be up to Chuck Schumer and the Senate Democrats to do the right thing,” Johnson said ahead of the vote. With Republicans holding a 53-47 majority, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., must poach at least seven Democrats, assuming all of his Republican colleagues vote for the measure. The chamber will need to move quickly in order to get the bill to President Trump’s desk and avoid a funding lapse on Saturday.

The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs can’t make its mind up about application of the Biden administration’s controversial policy requiring project labor agreements on solicitations for federal construction contracts of $35 million or more.

Less than two weeks after restoring merit-based competition for taxpayer-funded contracts to build VA hospitals, outpatient facilities, office buildings, national cemeteries and other construction projects, the VA has reversed course again.

The VA’s Feb. 13 FAR Class Deviation Memo—released to the public on Feb. 20—cites the change in policy on account of a January decision by the U.S. Court of Federal Claims that ruled in favor of experienced ABC members and other federal contractors who filed 12 bid protests against three federal agencies that mandated PLAs in solicitations for construction services.

According to the VA’s rescinded memo:

“The Court found that the agencies’ 2024 implementation of E.O. 14063, specifically, the functionality of the mandate as applied to the individual contracts in this case stifles competition and violates the statutory directive that agencies must promote ‘full and open competition’ in federal procurements unless a statutory justification is properly invoked. No injunction relief was included in the order.

“Due to the Court of Federal Claims decision, effective immediately, contracting officers shall not use project labor agreements for large-scale construction projects, implemented at Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) subpart 22.5 and 36.104(c). The FAR clauses at FAR 52.222-33, Notice of Requirement for Project Labor Agreement, and FAR 52.222-34, Project Labor Agreement, shall not be enforced in any solicitation.”

However, the VA rescinded this memo within two weeks of its issuance and restored PLA mandates. A VA bid solicitation for design-build services to replace the seismically deficient Animal Research Buildings 47 and 104 at Sepulveda Ambulatory Care Center in North Hills, California, reinstated a previously revoked PLA on March 3.

“The VA’s latest posture towards PLA mandates makes little sense in the face of recent legal decisions and efforts by other federal agencies to eliminate inflationary and anti-competitive PLA mandate policies,” said Ben Brubeck, ABC vice president of regulatory, labor and state affairs. “ABC will continue to push to make fair and open competition a reality governmentwide and will get to the bottom of the VA’s flip-flop.”

On Feb. 19, ABC celebrated a new policy by the U.S. General Services Administration that will restore merit-based competition for contracts to build land port of entry projects procured by the GSA.

“The GSA’s new policy eliminates former President Joe Biden’s controversial rule requiring anti-competitive, inflationary, union-favoring project labor agreements on federal construction projects of $35 million or more––but only for GSA solicitations to build critical land port of entry projects,” said Brubeck in an Engineering News-Record article.

“Requiring a PLA on LPOE projects would not advance the Federal Government’s interests in achieving economy and efficiency in Federal procurement because the need for LPOE modernizations is of an unusual and compelling urgency and requiring a PLA would be impracticable,” wrote GSA Senior Procurement Executive Chair Jeff Koses in the PLA exception memo. “A current administration priority is to remedy the emergency on the United States borders.”

Koses is a member of the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council that issued a rule effective Jan. 22, 2024, implementing Biden’s Executive Order 14063 mandating PLAs on large-scale federal construction projects of $35 million or more.

The abrupt policy changes from the GSA and the VA follow a Pentagon class deviation memo––celebrated by ABC––announcing that the U.S. Department of Defense has halted PLA mandates on all military construction projects.

Of note, the DOD and the VA issued class deviation memos. In contrast, the GSA issued a PLA exception waiver from its senior procurement executive consistent with the Biden FAR rule, which appears to be the first PLA exception waiver ever granted by a federal agency under the Biden administration’s PLA mandate policy.

All other federal civilian agencies, including the remainder of the GSA’s portfolio, are still subject to Biden’s harmful pro-PLA rule.

Almost 80% of federal construction contracts of $35 million or more were awarded by the DOD, VA and GSA’s LPOE program in FY 2024, according to an ABC analysis of usaspending.gov federal agency contract awards.

“ABC will continue to use successful litigation and advocacy strategies to restore merit-based fair and open competition in federal contracting so all American workers and all qualified construction firms can compete on a level playing field to build and rebuild America,” said Brubeck. “While we are pleased with the recent policy changes at the DOD and GSA, ABC will continue to urge adoption of pro-taxpayer policies governmentwide permanently.”

On Jan. 9, ABC and 24 other construction and business groups in the Build America Local coalition sent a letter to President Donald Trump requesting an executive order that would eliminate the Biden PLA mandate and restore fair and open competition on federal and federally assisted construction projects, which would save taxpayers an estimated $10 billion annually.

Through ABC’s grassroots campaign, ABC members can urge Congress and President Trump to stop harmful government-mandated PLAs on federal and federally assisted construction projects via the Fair and Open Competition Act, which will soon be introduced in the 119th Congress.

Non-ABC stakeholders can help by watching this video and contacting their lawmakers via the BuildAmericaLocal.com coalition website.

The Biden government-mandated PLA policy has been widely criticized by the construction industry, taxpayer watchdogs and lawmakers for needlessly inflating construction costs, delaying projects and effectively steering contracts to unionized firms and union labor at the expense of taxpayers and federal laws requiring fair and open competition.

“ABC has testified before Congress that, when mandated by government, PLAs increase construction costs by an estimated 12% to 20%, reduce competition from qualified contractors and their employees, steal money from the paychecks of token nonunion workers permitted on PLA projects and exacerbate the construction industry’s worker shortage,” said Brubeck. “Typical PLA mandates discourage competition from some of the best bidders and 9 out of 10 U.S. construction workers by forcing contractors to sign special union collective bargaining agreements, hire workers from union halls and apprenticeship programs and accept compulsory union representation on behalf of any members of their existing workforces. This exposes those workers to union wage theft of up to 34% of their compensation unless they join a union and vest in union benefits plans.”

On March 28, 2024, ABC and its Florida First Coast chapter filed suit in federal court to block Biden’s PLA final rule. The case is fully briefed and plaintiffs are awaiting a decision on the overall case and a ruling on the motion for preliminary injunction filed in April.

On March 5, Sen. Bernie Sanders and Rep. Bobby Scott reintroduced the ABC-opposed PRO Act in the 119th Congress. 

ABC issued a statement opposing the PRO Act. The ABC-led Coalition for a Democratic Workplace also sent a letter and statement to the Hill urging members Congress to oppose the bill.

This radical legislation includes dozens of provisions that would violate workers’ free choice and privacy rights, force unions on employees who have voted against such representation, cost millions of American jobs, threaten vital supply chains and greatly hinder our economy. The bill boosts union membership at the expense of American workers and small businesses.

Of the many radical provisions in the PRO Act, the bill includes provisions that:

• Strip away workers’ privacy rights and key protections guaranteeing workers’ free choice through secret ballots in union representation elections
• Curb opportunities for people to work independently through independent contractor roles
• Revoke independently enacted state right-to-work protections and require workers to pay union dues as a condition of employment
• Change the legal standard for joint-employer liability, reducing opportunities for our country’s small and local businesses through subcontracts, licensing and franchising
• Violate employers’ right to attorney-client confidentiality on complex labor law issues, making it harder for businesses, particularly small businesses, to secure legal advice
• Impose government control over private contracts
• Infringe on the due process rights of employers
• Remove secondary boycott protections

The reintroduction of this legislation represents the latest attempt to implement labor law policies that have previously been rejected by the judicial system, opposed on a bipartisan basis in Congress and/or withdrawn by the agencies that prior administrations tried to use to implement the policies unilaterally. All of these entities realized those policies violated the law, exceeded the authority granted to the implementing agencies or would cause serious damage to the American workplace.

Immigration Actions Under the Trump Administration and Employer Resources

Below is an overview of President Donald Trump's executive orders on immigration as well as recent administration actions on Temporary Protected Status.

Executive Orders

On Jan. 20, President Trump issued a flurry of executive orders related to immigration action items.

ABC recommends every contractor take all precautions in the hiring process to verify each potential employee is eligible to work legally in the United States, including using the E-Verify system.

ABC’s goal is to work with the administration and Congress to create a market-based merit visa system that allows people who want to contribute to society and work legally in the construction industry to do so. There is no place in our country for lawbreakers here to cause harm, and ABC opposes violence, coercion and intimidation of every kind. ABC supports the portion of the administration’s immigration strategy that focuses on lawbreakers.

Following the laws of supply and demand, mass deportations could constrain the availability of labor, which could stifle the ability of the industry to build the construction projects demanded by the marketplace. In other words, the supply of labor may not meet the demand, which could drive up costs, or consumer demand would adjust. And if the worker supply is constrained, employers would most likely adjust their employee value proposition to enhance their position in the marketplace. This is an important reason why we need a market-based merit visa system.

Read additional resources on recent immigration actions provided by ABC general counsel Littler Mendelson:

• An ICE Q&A With Answers to Your Top 25 Questions
• An Immigration Compliance and Enforcement Checklist That Outlines Key Areas That May Require Your Attention and Action

• PowerPoint Presentation: Learn About President Trump’s Actions on Immigration and DEI and How To Be Proactive in Compliance Efforts

• Trump Administration Day 1 Immigration Agenda: How Are Employers Impacted?
• The First 100 Days: Increased Immigration Compliance and Enforcement (Podcast)
• The First 100 Days: Executive Orders Impacting Immigration Policy (Podcast)

Temporary Protected Status

Venezuela

On Feb. 1, Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem terminated Temporary Protected Status under the 2023 designation for Venezuela. TPS and related benefits associated with the 2023 designation will end on April 7, 2025. It is estimated that 348,202 Venezuelans will be impacted by the termination.

According to the Federal Register Notice:

“This termination is effective April 7, 2025. After April 7, 2025, nationals of Venezuela (and aliens having no nationality who last habitually resided in Venezuela) who have been granted TPS under the 2023 Venezuela designation will no longer have TPS. This termination determination does not apply to the 2021 designation of Venezuela for TPS, which remains in effect until September 10, 2025, or to individuals who are registered for TPS under the 2021 designation.”

Haiti

On Feb. 20, Secretary Noem partially vacated the July 1, 2024, notice that extended and redesignated Haiti for TPS. The announcement amends the period of extension and redesignation of Haiti for TPS from 18 months to 12 months, with a new end date of Aug. 3, 2025, and makes a corresponding change to the initial registration period for new applicants under the redesignation, which will now remain in effect through Aug. 3, 2025. For additional information, please see the Federal Register Notice.

ABC believes in protections for TPS recipients, who have been members of the construction industry workforce for years. Currently, it is estimated that between 70,000 and 100,000 individuals work in the construction industry through both TPS and DACA.

ABC members can visit the TPS webpage for status alerts. 

ABC members are encouraged to reach out to counsel with any questions regarding the recent immigration actions.