Congressman Henry Cuellar met with McAllen Mayor Javier Villalobos over recent immigration arrests in the area.

“Criminals, all those folks, I'll be first one to say get 'em out,” Cuellar said. “[Those] working in the sun — there's a lot of people that don't want to do that so somebody's gotta do it. And if there are some people that want to it at least give them a permit to work, so I'm with the mayor."

On June 12, Villalobos issued a statement saying he would like to see more legal employment opportunities for those in the country illegally.

Many local builders said their workers are not showing up to work out of fear of being arrested,

READ MORE: ICE raids and their uncertainty scare off workers and baffle businesses