Texas Governor Greg Abbott says a second bus of migrants apprehended in South Texas arrived in Washington D.C. Thursday morning.
While the migrants were taken into custody for crossing illegally, economists say the state should also consider their role in the workforce.
According to the U.S. Census, immigrants account for 23% of the Texas workforce. Ray Perryman, an economist in Waco and Nobel Prize nominee, says 10% of the state's workforce is undocumented.
"Everyone should try to put themselves in that situation with violence, instability and the drought," he says. "If you didn't have any food, and your kids were in danger, and you saw a place you could walk to and potentially give them a better life, you're going to do it. If you get sent back, you're going to do it again. It's literally a matter of survival for your children."
Perryman says undocumented migrants make up 40% of the Texas workforce in agriculture and construction and 30% of hospitality workers in Texas. He says immigrants are filling jobs in sectors where employers are struggling to fill open positions now, saying the "market has figured out how to use those workers."
"If you look at future needs and future ways we'll meet those needs, they don't match yet," he says. "There is a bigger emphasis; even the higher education coordinating boards' initiatives are shifting toward getting more kids trained in these technical fields, and I feel like that's very, very important."
Perryman says the federal government should work more closely with Central American nations to ensure people's safety and ability to find work without risking a trip to the U.S.
"We have to really work on addressing those problems as they exist in those countries to try to get those countries to be viable places to live as they have been for most of our history," he says.
Related
LISTEN on the Audacy App
Sign Up and Follow NewsRadio 1080 KRLD