INGRAM, Texas – Hill Country residents, contractors and volunteers say that increased immigration enforcement is a concern that’s slowing progress following the deadly floods last year.
Over the last few weeks, people involved in the recovery efforts have repeatedly raised worries about a crackdown on undocumented immigrants, saying it is affecting the construction workforce and pushing back rebuilding timelines.
Community members said the issue has centered in and around Ingram, where more traffic stops were reported. The residents said that immigrants have been arrested during some of those stops, and as word spread, construction work slowed across the area.
Steve Edelstein, a business owner, says the apparent immigration crackdown impacted a contractor he hired.
“Maybe six weeks ago would be my guess. They started picking people up,” said Edelstein, in part. “And in the construction business, that is a very large portion. Our concrete guys, our painters, our framers. They are, a lot of them are illegals that have been here for years working, and a lot of them were picked up, and the ones that weren’t picked up, the rest of them aren’t coming to work because they’re scared of being picked up.”
City of Ingram data indicates that traffic stops increased in recent months, rising from 92 in November to 140 in February and 221 in March. Last month, the data shows that there were 154 traffic stops.
TheTXLoop has attempted to email and call the Ingram police chief about how many traffic stops involved Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrests, but there has been no response.
In November, the Ingram Police Department entered an agreement with ICE through the federal 287 (g) program. The partnership trains local officers to enforce immigration laws and also provides additional funds. More than 200 agencies in Texas have signed up for the program.
Texas Department of Public Safety (DPS) reported three calls to ICE over the past six months involving troopers working in Kerr County.
People working on recovery efforts said they understand the push for stronger border enforcement but believe there should be a path that protects public safety while allowing reliable workers to keep rebuilding.
“I agree that we need to not let in criminals and terrorists, and we need to have a strong border enforcement,” Edelstein said. “But there has to be a happy medium. There has to be a happy medium that protects the community, but that encourages productive people to be able to stay and work.”
More Hill Country floods coverage on TheTXLoop:
Copyright 2026 by TheTXLoop – All rights reserved.