Los Angeles correspondent Carter Evans’s recent trend of stories on CBS Evening News highly critical of immigration law enforcement continued on Friday as he claimed deportation efforts are making it difficult to rebuild Los Angeles after recent wildfires.
Evans began by showing the interior of a home under construction, “This construction site has just about everything you need to build a traditional family home. Everything except enough workers.”
His human interest story for the segment was Jason Pietruszka, a general contractor, and Pietruszka declared, “We have probably three people on-site, four people on-site, and normally we would have about double, we would have about 8-10 people.”
After Evans asked, “Where are they?” Pietruszka claimed, “They’re hiding. People are going to come to work.”
Evans elaborated in a voiceover, “Jason Pietruszka is a general contractor in Los Angeles. He says he only hires builders here in the country legally, but he also relies on companies that employ highly skilled undocumented labor. Many of those workers are now no-shows because they're fearful of the ramped up ICE raids.”’
Following additional comments from Pietruszka, Evans elaborated further, “The labor shortage comes at a time when more than 12,000 homes destroyed by recent fires in L.A. County need to be rebuilt. About 41 percent of the construction workers in California are foreign-born, and according to a report, the rising deportations will deplete the construction workforce statewide, including those specializing in drywall, flooring, and roofing. Pietruszka says this is already causing longer construction delays and greater competition for fewer crew.”
“Foreign born” is not the same thing as being in the country illegally. Additionally, left-wing sources claim that about 23 percent of construction workers are illegally in the country.
As it was, Pietruszka lamented, “When you find the people who are willing to do the job, they want, probably, double the hourly rate.”
Looking around the job site, Evans wondered, “So, what does that mean? Like, for this home that is getting to the end stages here?”
Pietruszka claimed, “That means that the consumer is paying more.”
Even if one took Pietruszka’s 41 percent number and other concerns seriously, it still doesn’t answer the question of why California should be able to dictate national policy.
Here is a transcript for the July 18-show:
CBS Evening News
7/18/2025
6:39 PM ET
CARTER EVANS: This construction site has just about everything you need to build a traditional family home. Everything except enough workers.
JASON PIETRUSZKA: We have probably three people on-site, four people on-site, and normally we would have about double, we would have about 8-10 people.
EVANS: Where are they?
PIETRUSZKA: They’re hiding. People are going to come to work.
EVANS: Jason Pietruszka is a general contractor in Los Angeles. He says he only hires builders here in the country legally, but he also relies on companies that employ highly skilled undocumented labor. Many of those workers are now no-shows because they're fearful of the ramped up ICE raids.
PIETRUSZKA: If a company has five trucks and there's two guys per truck and half their crew doesn't want to come, that's literally three jobs or two jobs that can't be performed.
EVANS: The labor shortage comes at a time when more than 12,000 homes destroyed by recent fires in L.A. County need to be rebuilt. About 41 percent of the construction workers in California are foreign-born, and according to a report, the rising deportations will deplete the construction workforce statewide, including those specializing in drywall, flooring, and roofing. Pietruszka says this is already causing longer construction delays and greater competition for fewer crew.
PIETRUSZKA: When you find the people who are willing to do the job, they want, probably, double the hourly rate.
EVANS: So, what does that mean? Like, for this home that is getting to the end stages here?
PIETRUSZKA: That means that the consumer is paying more.
