Owners say mass deportations are killing small businesses

A small business owner told Newsweek that he’s facing an uncertain future as President Donald Trump‘s immigration crackdown drives away customers.

David Rebolloso, who was born in Brownsville, Texas, and started working as a farmworker with his immigrant family in the 1960s, has built a life of service and entrepreneurship over decades in the United States.

After serving 20 years in the U.S. Air Force and another 10 in health care, Rebolloso and his wife launched a construction cleaning business using retirement savings.

In 2014, he purchased his first laundromat, and after seeing steady success, he opened a second location this year with help from a $2 million SBA loan. But now, Rebolloso said fear of immigration enforcement has sharply reduced customer traffic at both businesses.

“Customers tell me that people are afraid and scared to come out,” Rebolloso said. “The first laundromat has 50 percent fewer customers. The new laundromat is only generating 40 percent of what it should have been.

Revenue at his first laundromat is down by more than one-third, Rebolloso said, and the new location does not bring in enough to cover its operating costs. He is relying on savings from his previous cleaning business to help pay the bills but estimates that he can sustain operations for only another four to six months under current conditions.

“Small business owners like me are losing money because of the new immigration policy. I don’t think policymakers in Washington understand how badly they are hurting us. We need each other for a healthy economy,” he said.

Rebolloso said he is committed to advocating for immigration policies that protect workers and the small businesses. Despite the challenges, he hopes to keep his laundromats running.

“I’m still working, together with my wife, trying to keep everything afloat,” he said.

His struggles mirror challenges in other industries that rely heavily on immigrant labor. In Texas’ booming construction sector, tighter immigration enforcement has created a labor shortage.

Contractors say many undocumented workers are staying home rather than risk deportation, leaving job sites understaffed and pushing project deadlines further out.

Ruben Mercado Jr., president and owner of Ipsum General Contractors LLC, said his company has lost one-quarter of its workers amid fears of immigration raids.

“Since the new administration has taken office, many of the undocumented workers have decided to stay at home in fear of being picked up by ICE and being deported,” he said. “This has placed a huge pressure in our industry, affecting us in many ways.

“This includes a shortage of workforce. This shortage has impacted our ability to deliver our projects on time. This also has affected our bottom line due to an increase in payroll expenses.”

He said replacing workers has been costly and challenging.

“We are forced to hire inexperienced laborers at higher rates to replace our employees,” he said. “Many times, these replacements are less knowledgeable in the skills needed to complete the tasks at hand.

“A few of our subcontractors have also been affected. One in particular has lost two-thirds of their workforce for the same reason.”

The American Immigration Council reported that immigrants comprised about 40 percent of all construction workers in Texas as of 2022, totaling more than 507,700 people. In certain trades, such as painting and roofing, immigrant representation exceeds 60 percent.

The economic side effects could be significant for Texas cities that rely heavily on immigrant labor, according to business leaders.

In Houston, one-third of the construction workforce are undocumented immigrants. Deporting these workers would affect the Houston GDP by more than $50 billion over the next 10 years.

The Migration Policy Institute found that immigrants made up nearly 50 percent of the construction workforce in Houston between 2017 and 2021, and the American Immigration Council reported they constituted 37.7 percent of the city’s population during the same period.

However, not everyone agrees that stricter enforcement is a threat to Texas’ economy.

Andrew Good, director of State Government Relations at NumbersUSA, argues that the industry does not need to rely on immigrant labor.

“Our ability to build housing and infrastructure in the United States has not been historically correlated to high levels of immigration — and certainly not reliant on high levels of illegal immigration,” he said.

“While investors and employers would certainly prefer to pay rock-bottom wages, building cheaply hasn’t proved to be a panacea for aspiring homeowners.”

However, while some say that stricter enforcement will protect American jobs and wages, business owners like Rebolloso say the reality on the ground tells a different story, one in which immigration crackdowns threaten families and businesses.

“All immigrants contribute to making America great,” he said. “Racism and discrimination does not mesh with a healthy economy.”