Deconstructed reveals how decades of immigration policy failures created today’s crisis. Following the Marek family journey from Czech immigrants to major contractors, this definitive account challenges divisive myths and offers a pragmatic blueprint for immigration reform that benefits workers, businesses, and the American economy.
Illegal immigration is among the most challenging and divisive issues facing America. With few changes in immigration laws since 1986, the undocumented population has swelled to an estimated 11 million.
Deconstructed unravels these economic issues and their human toll through the eyes of Houston businessman Stan Marek, who’s watched the immigration crisis unfold over 40 years. A descendant of Czech immigrants himself, Marek runs one of the largest specialty subcontracting firms in the U.S. He has seen construction work devolve from offering middle-class careers to trapping illegal immigrants in the shadows of the economy— paid in cash, without overtime or access to health care. Marek sees a burgeoning crisis for his industry, the national economy and the undocumented immigrants themselves – a crisis he has vowed to prevent.
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.
Category: Politics, Biography, Nonfiction
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
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."
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."
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