Deconstructed

An Insider's View of Illegal Immigration and the Building Trades

By Loren C. Steffy and Stan Marek

Deconstructed: An Insider’s View of Illegal Immigration and the Building Trades is Loren C. Steffy and Stan Marek’s best-selling account of illegal immigration inside the American construction industry. Marek runs one of the largest specialty subcontracting firms in the country and has watched, over forty years, construction work go from a middle-class career to something that traps undocumented workers without overtime or healthcare.

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Essential reading for anyone who wants to understand the roots of today’s immigration debate—and what it will take to fix it.

Step behind the headlines and into the heart of America’s immigration debate with Deconstructed—the definitive account of how the U.S. turned immigration into a crisis, and how we can chart a path forward.

Through the eyes of Stan Marek, a third-generation construction executive and tireless advocate for sensible immigration reform, Deconstructed reveals how decades of policy failures have reshaped not just the construction industry, but the American workforce itself. From the bustling jobsites of Houston to the halls of Congress, this book traces the real-world impact of laws that forced millions into the shadows—hurting workers, businesses, and the broader economy.

Follow the Marek family’s journey from Czech immigrants seeking a better life in Texas to builders of one of the Southwest’s largest specialty contractors. Their story mirrors the evolution of America’s immigration system—from the open arms of Ellis Island to the complex, often contradictory rules that define today’s debate. Through personal anecdotes and historical insight, Deconstructed brings to life the people behind the policies.

Deconstructed doesn’t just recount how immigration became “illegal”—it challenges the myths that fuel division and offers a pragmatic blueprint for reform. Learn why the labor shortages in construction and other industries can’t be solved by politics as usual, and how bringing workers out of the shadows benefits everyone—from the jobsite to Main Street.

In Deconstructed, award-winning business journalist Loren Steffy traces Marek’s own family history, intertwined with changes in immigration law for more than a century. Steffy examines the economic forces driving illegal immigration and outlines solutions that could enhance our economy, the construction business, and the lives of immigrants. He returns to the topic in the follow up, Reconstructing Immigration: Rebuilding America’s Economic Advantage.

Category: Politics, Biography, Nonfiction, Business and Economics

Publication Date: November 4, 2020

ISBN (hardcover) 978-1-7340822-2-7

ISBN (paper): 978-1-7368390-1-0

ISBN (ebook): 978-1-7340822-3-4

List Price: $16.95

Pages: 226

Trim size: 6 x 9

Amazon Bestseller!

Stephen L. Klineberg, author of Prophetic City: Houston on the Cusp of a Changing America and Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Rice
"In this engrossing analysis, Loren Steffy tells the story of how Stan Marek came to be one of Houston's most highly respected and tenacious advocates for rational immigration reform. With an increasing sense of urgency, the CEO of the Marek Family of Companies has been calling on business and civic leaders to reform the nation's immigration laws so that they are no longer so blatantly out of step with today's demographic and economic realities. To meet the demand for skilled labor as the baby boom retires, America will need to import workers and draw on the undocumented immigrants who are already here. Steffy and Marek propose a simple and politically feasible way forward, a program that would identify and tax undocumented workers in America and then allow them to participate in the economy without fear of deportation. The immigrants would still be ineligible to vote or to receive welfare benefits, but they would at last be able to come out of the shadows and into the economic mainstream. The compelling stories and persuasive arguments in this excellent book are a must-read for anyone concerned about the prospects for Houston and America as the twenty-first century unfolds."

Patricia Bernstein, author of Ten Dollars to Hate: The Texas Man Who Fought the Klan
"Loren Steffy and Stan Marek's new book Deconstructed is a clear-headed, cogent, and essential explanation of the many problems posed by the prevalence of undocumented (and unprotected) workers in the construction industry, grounded in a review of the schizophrenic, often xenophobic history of US immigration policies. This plea for more rational policies that would enable workers to enhance their skills, pay taxes, and lead secure lives is given heart by the story of Stan Marek's own ancestors, immigrants who suffered many hardships but ultimately built one of Houston's great companies, and by Stan's lifelong campaign to improve the industry he loves by improving the conditions of its workers."

What is Deconstructed about?

Deconstructed follows the Marek family from Czech immigration to running one of the largest specialty subcontracting firms in the United States, and uses that vantage to examine how immigration policy reshaped construction work. Stan Marek and Loren C. Steffy argue that a century of legal changes pushed a middle-class trade into the shadows, and propose reforms aimed at workers, employers, and the economy together.

How does Deconstructed relate to Reconstructing Immigration?

Deconstructed primarily examines the problem inside one industry, through one company’s history. Reconstructing Immigration, publishing October 6, 2026, makes the economy-wide argument for reform. Readers of the first book are the natural audience for the second.

Who is Stan Marek?

The CEO of the Marek Family of Companies, one of the largest specialty subcontracting firms in the United States, and a longtime advocate for immigration reform from an employer’s perspective. His family emigrated from what is now the Czech Republic.

Is Deconstructed partisan?

It argues from the construction industry’s economics rather than from a party position, and is critical of policy failures across administrations. Its central claim is that the current system disadvantages both legitimate workers and law-abiding employers.

About the Author

Loren C. Steffy

Loren C. Steffy is the author of five books of nonfiction: Deconstructed: An Insider's View of Illegal Immigration and the Building Trades (with Stan Marek); The Last Trial of T. Boone Pickens (with Chrysta Castañeda); George P. Mitchell: Fracking, Sustainability, and an Unorthodox Quest to Save the Planet; The Man Who Thought Like a Ship; and Drowning in Oil: BP and the Reckless Pursuit of Profit." He is also the author of a novel, The Big Empty , which combines a sweeping appreciation for history and the struggles of small-town America with an examination of technology and the social and economic changes that come about when the two meet head to head.

Steffy is a contributing writer for Texas Monthly and a managing director for the communications firm 30 Point Strategies, where he heads the 30 Point Press publishing imprint. He is the founder of his own imprint, Stoney Creek Publishing, a company committed to stories and narratives from unique voices. Stoney Creek has an award-winning team of editors and designers who are committed to producing high-quality books in less time and with fewer hurdles than traditional publishing.

He writes a Substack newsletter, The Accidental Publisher, about the writing and publishing industry, and Life in the Word Mines about anything else that strikes his fancy.

Prior to his current positions, Steffy was the business columnist for the Houston Chronicle, and his writing has been published in newspapers and other publications nationwide. He has appeared on CNBC, Fox Business, MSNBC, the BBC and the PBS NewsHour, and is regular guest on local television and radio news programs in Houston and Austin.

Before joining the Chronicle, Steffy was the Dallas bureau chief and a senior writer for Bloomberg News for twelve years. He covered a variety of business topics in Texas and across the country, including the collapse of Enron. His reporting on the demise of Arthur Andersen was selected for the 2003 edition of the "Best Business Stories of the Year." Before joining Bloomberg, Steffy worked at the Dallas Times Herald, the Dallas Business Journal and the Arlington Daily News.

Steffy holds a bachelor's degree in journalism from Texas A&M University. He and his wife, Laura, live in Wimberley, Texas, and share their home with two rescue dogs.

www.lorensteffy.com

Stan Marek

Stan Marek is the president and chief executive officer of the Marek Family of Companies, one of the largest interior contractors in the Southwest. He is a frequent contributor to the Houston Chronicle and blogs such as Construction Citizen.

Reviews

Stephen L. Klineberg, author of Prophetic City: Houston on the Cusp of a Changing America and Professor Emeritus of Sociology, Rice
"In this engrossing analysis, Loren Steffy tells the story of how Stan Marek came to be one of Houston's most highly respected and tenacious advocates for rational immigration reform. With an increasing sense of urgency, the CEO of the Marek Family of Companies has been calling on business and civic leaders to reform the nation's immigration laws so that they are no longer so blatantly out of step with today's demographic and economic realities. To meet the demand for skilled labor as the baby boom retires, America will need to import workers and draw on the undocumented immigrants who are already here. Steffy and Marek propose a simple and politically feasible way forward, a program that would identify and tax undocumented workers in America and then allow them to participate in the economy without fear of deportation. The immigrants would still be ineligible to vote or to receive welfare benefits, but they would at last be able to come out of the shadows and into the economic mainstream. The compelling stories and persuasive arguments in this excellent book are a must-read for anyone concerned about the prospects for Houston and America as the twenty-first century unfolds."

Patricia Bernstein, author of Ten Dollars to Hate: The Texas Man Who Fought the Klan
"Loren Steffy and Stan Marek's new book Deconstructed is a clear-headed, cogent, and essential explanation of the many problems posed by the prevalence of undocumented (and unprotected) workers in the construction industry, grounded in a review of the schizophrenic, often xenophobic history of US immigration policies. This plea for more rational policies that would enable workers to enhance their skills, pay taxes, and lead secure lives is given heart by the story of Stan Marek's own ancestors, immigrants who suffered many hardships but ultimately built one of Houston's great companies, and by Stan's lifelong campaign to improve the industry he loves by improving the conditions of its workers."

Deconstructed

Buy this book

Audiobook

What is Deconstructed about?

How does Deconstructed relate to Reconstructing Immigration?

Who is Stan Marek?

Is Deconstructed partisan?

About the Author

Loren C. Steffy

Stan Marek

Reviews

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Reconstructing Immigration

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The Man Who Thought Like a Ship

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The Last Trial of T. Boone Pickens

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George P. Mitchell

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The Big Empty

The Big Empty

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