Andrew Hay -
Oil man Johnny Vega laid out his predicament as his crew hoisted pipes from a well during the biggest oil boom in US history. The son of a Mexican guestworker, Vega cannot find enough legal workers to meet demand for his oil well service rigs.
There is no shortage of Hispanic and Latino immigrant workers without work permits he could hire in Lea County, New Mexico — the number 2 oil-producing county in the United States.
But Vega says he wants to play by the rules, not least because of a heightened risk of company audits by US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) under President Donald Trump.
As a result, he has equipment that could be generating $700,000 a month standing idle in his yard.
“They’re demanding more rigs, more swabbing units, but you don’t have enough employees,” said Vega, who runs Mico Services with around $17 million in annual revenues. “It’s a lack of a system to get legal workers, to have more of a workforce to pull from.” Employers like Vega in the Permian Basin oilfields of New Mexico and Texas say they feel caught between Trump’s support for their industry and his policies focused on tougher immigration enforcement.
It’s a dilemma faced in other sectors of the US economy that depend on foreign workers after ICE reported surges of between 300 per cent to 750 per cent in worksite investigations, audits and arrests in fiscal year 2018.
Visas for temporary jobs in sectors like agriculture and hospitality have increased during the Trump administration. Oil companies complain of difficulties gaining work permits for immigrant oil workers, who do not qualify for these temporary visas.
The Permian Basin, by far the most productive oil field in the United States, has helped make the country a net exporter of oil. Its output growth has recently slowed, but production is still at all time highs.
The number of rigs drilling for oil in New Mexico hit a record 115 in early October and labour shortages are felt most keenly in service companies like Vega’s that help keep the oil flowing.
The Permian Basin is short 15,000 workers, with demand met by paying overtime and shipping workers in and out, according to data from the Permian Strategic Partnership alliance of 19 energy companies.
Thousands of immigrants, mainly from neighbouring Mexico, have thronged to the decade-long boom. They often fill the hardest and most dangerous jobs few Americans want, such as using heavy equipment to lift oil well tubing or lay pipeline.
For Bob Reid, immigrants provide a solution to labour shortages and a chance for boom-bust oil towns like Hobbs, New Mexico to build a more stable future.
“The problem is a broken system that’s preventing them from coming in legally in a way that allows them to pursue a path to citizenship,” said Reid, head of the JF Maddox Foundation, a Hobbs charity.
In Lea County, Hispanics and Latinos now account for as much as 70 per cent of the population, compared with 40 per cent 20 years ago, based on county school enrollment and other data.
About two years ago, ICE stepped up operations in the Permian area, according to Lea County employers.
“I know people, my peers, that have been hit by immigration audits, and they were told, specifically, that the Permian Basin was targeted because of the vast amount of workers that were coming here,” said Finn Smith, president of Hobbs-based Watson Hopper Inc.
Two companies in Hobbs, the largest city in Lea County, were recently audited: Mesa Well Services and paving contractor Ramirez & Sons, according to a person with knowledge of the situation and a Ramirez & Sons official.
Mesa Well officials were not available for comment. Ramirez & Sons Senior Superintendent David Gallegos said the company was paying around $40,000 in legal fees to apply for work permits or US citizenship on behalf of five of the employees laid off after the audit.
“They’re worth fighting for,” said Gallegos, a Republican New Mexico state representative, of the “long term” employees who had bought homes in the area.
ICE operations, and Trump’s threats of raids, have left many immigrants in Lea County fearful. Some bolt from job sites at rumours of ICE activity, said Maria Romano of New Mexico-based immigrant rights group Somos Un Pueblo Unido.
More companies are using the government’s E-Verify immigration background checks to vet new hires, said Romano, whose organisation helps immigrants get on a pathway to citizenship. — Reuters
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