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A recent study showed the construction business in Texas could be affected if the Trump administration reaches its goal of net zero migration into the United States.

A report from the Joint Center for Housing Studies at Harvard University showed the Dallas–Fort Worth–Arlington metroplex leads the nation in homebuilding with nearly 350,000 permits annually, and migrants make up the majority of the workforce for new home builds and remodeling.

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Riordan Frost, senior research analyst at the center, said the most productive metro areas are building houses, condos and apartments, often relying heavily on immigrant labor.

"This role is even more disproportionate in metropolitan areas with really high home-building activity or really high remodeling activity," Frost pointed out. "Essentially, really high demand for those trades' workforces."

In North Texas, 61 percent of the trades workforce is foreign‑born. Last year, for the first time in 50 years, the U.S. had net zero migration, a trend the administration has attributed to President Donald Trump’s efforts to deport what it describes as "criminal aliens" and end what it calls a "migrant invasion."

The report found drywallers and plasterers lead the trades with the highest percentage of immigrant workers. Half of all roofers, painters and floor installers are also immigrants. Frost noted efforts to steeply curb immigration into the U.S. could put a strain on housing affordability, which is already an issue across the country.

"The labor shortage in general has increased the cost of housing," Frost emphasized. "It’s really anything that affects that ability to supply housing, could drive up those costs."

Immigrants in Houston, Laredo and McAllen also make up more than 50 percent of the construction workforce.

Support for this reporting was provided by the philanthropic foundation, Carnegie Corporation of New York.