As California Fires Rage, Realtor.com Blames ICE

LOS ANGELES, CA- Note to Realtor.com…stay in your lane! A recent blog post on the real estate website decided to interject itself into politics, claiming that ICE raids are taking workers needed to rebuild in the Los Angeles area after wildfires destroyed over 16,000 structures earlier this year. 

According to the piece, ICE doing its job and fulfilling a campaign promise a majority of the American people elected Donald Trump to do, has “rattled the contractors, builders, and homeowners trying to piece the city back together.” How quaint. 

According to Allaire Conte, writing in the “News & Insights” page, “immigration enforcement raids are threatening the city’s ability to rebuild.” 

According to Conte, laborers needed to rebuild the greater Los Angeles community are “going underground,” with “experts” claiming the raids “have created a chilling effect that could mean blown budgets, delayed rebuilds, and deferred dreams of recovery.” Sounds devastating. 

What Conte conveniently ignores in his analysis are a myriad of other issues that are hindering rebuilding.

Those issues are not, of course, attributable to President Trump, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem, or Border Czar Tom Homan.

Instead, those issues fall squarely on the Democrats, who have been running the city and county of Los Angeles, as well as the State of California, for decades. 

According to the Los Angeles Times, over 800 homeowners in Pacific Palisades, Altadena, and other areas impacted by the wildfires as of July 6. According to The Times’ analysis, it has taken an average of 55 days for the city of Los Angeles to issue permits. While some contractors say the permitting process seems to be the quickest they’ve seen, homeowners tell a different story. 

Out of over 800 permits sought, 145 have received approval to start construction or begin needed repairs on their homes in LA, Malibu, and Pasadena. Nearly 13,000 households were affected by the fires, which swept through the area on January 7 and 8. 

While feckless Gov. Gavin Newsom claims the state is rebuilding “with a clear plan, strong partnerships and the urgency this moment demands, some residents say that barriers have yet to be removed and promised rapid turnarounds have been bogged down in delays, The Times wrote. 

Roberto Covarrubias has lived in Altadena for ten years, and said LA County officials have fallen short of their promises to streamline the process.

His home was built in 2009, and he attempted to retrieve the original architectural plans, as his copies had been destroyed in the fire, only to be told they were nonexistent.

Covarrubias had to hire an architect, and the county miraculously located the electronic plans for his home. 

Covarrubias wanted to include a cellar in his new home to house a water heater and other equipment, however, officials told him that would require additional soil testing, which would take over a month and cost another $7,000. Finally, after three weeks of going back and forth, the county gave in. 

Actress Mandy Moore also slammed the slow pace of rebuilding. 

“Thanks, LA County, for making it as frustrating as possible to rebuild after the fires as possible,” Moore said on Instagram. “Shouldn’t be surprised, but it’s mind-boggling the red tape and hoops they’re putting us all through.” 

In a separate post, Moore said, “IT’s maddening and heartless…the endless hoops and meaningless protocol LA County is asking of fire victims who want to rebuild and get their lives back,” she wrote. “Wasn’t California going to make this as easy as possible?” 

But it’s the Trump administration’s fault. 

“It’s just added another layer of uncertainty to an already very difficult time,” said Brock Harris, a local real estate agent. 

According to Conte, “ICE’s high-profile enforcement actions have left a deep mark on L.A.’s construction workforce. So much so that many contractors and laborers were unwilling to speak on the record, worried that saying too much could make them a target.” 

The question is, if they are here legally, why would they be concerned about being “a target?” That’s right, they wouldn’t. 

If ICE is picking up construction workers, it fulfills the adage of FAFO…f*ck around and find out. 

For four years, the Biden administration opened our borders unfettered and let in over ten million illegal aliens. Now it is time to pay the piper. 

The fact is, the Trump administration has allowed illegal aliens to avoid being “snatched off” their job sites by taking advantage of the administration’s self-deporting program, a program that an estimated one million illegal aliens have already availed themselves of, according to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem.

Harris claims that workers are “hiding.” 

“People are really going into hiding,” he said. “There’s a noticeable sense of fear that ‘I could literally get snatched off my job site.” 

Here’s an idea. According to Construction Coverage, the construction industry in the United States employs roughly 8.2 million workers, which “represents a significant portion of the overall workforce and contributes substantially to the U.S. economy.”

How about if Newsom does something remotely intelligent for once and brings in out-of-state construction workers, giving them reciprocal state certification with their home state? That will solve issues such as “disrupted deliveries…and half-filled crews,” as Conte worries. 

According to Conte, immigrants make up 23% of the U.S. construction workforce, with roughly half of that total being comprised of illegal aliens.

Most of those, according to the Hispanic Construction Council’s “Building the Future of America Report,” work in roofing and framing. 

The issues in California are emblematic of a problem in the United States that has long been identified, primarily by conservatives.

There is an excessive emphasis on obtaining a college degree, rather than encouraging young people to enter the trades.

What do you think will earn you more money over a lifetime? Getting a degree in Gender Studies or becoming an electrician, plumber, or builder? Clearly, the latter, with little if anything in the way of student loans. 

Last year, Mike Rowe of “Dirty Jobs” and “Deadliest Catch” fame warned that there was a shortage of trade workers in an appearance on the Brian Kilmeade radio show. And the demand is increasing. 

Rowe told Kilmeade, “The more immediate mathematical problem revolves around the number five and two. Every year, for every five tradespeople who retire, two people replace them. This has been going on for about 18 years, and the math has become so critical and so under-reported. You can’t find a single major corporaton today who relies to some degree on skilled labor [that] isn’t struggling to hire.” 

As much as Conte tries to blame the current immigration crackdown for issues rebuilding LA County, over-regulation and red tape are a major driver behind the rebuilding slowdown.

In unincorporated Los Angeles County, 1,207 rebuild applications were received in the ensuing six months, but only 90 permits were issued.

In Pacific Palisades, only 70 of 360 permits were approved. 

Brian Turmail, vice president of public affairs and strategic initiatives at the Associated General Contractors of America, blamed the Biden administration’s workforce policies for the dearth of building. 

“Contractors are now being punished–because they are experiencing the consequences of the last four years of federal workforce policy,” Turmail said. “It’s like, ‘Hey, we’re going to starve you, and then we’re going to prosecute you for being starved.’” 

It may not surprise you that Conte is a graduate of that “bastion of conservative thought,” Columbia University, anti-Semite central in New York City. 

Time was, people went to Realtor.com to get real estate advice, check the value of their home, look for houses or apartments, or find a local realtor to work with. Now, you get a whole heaping pile of woke to go along with your home search. 

Zillow or Redfin might be better sources.