Washington (KRGV) — Representatives from the South Texas Builders Association are in the nation's capital ahead of a planned Thursday news conference urging federal lawmakers to overhaul immigration policies affecting the construction industry.

Members criticized the Trump administration's policies for driving away workers. 

“What we’ve wanted from the beginning is for the ICE operations to stop harassing our communities, our Latino and Hispanic communities,” South Texas Builders Association Vice President for Government Relations Benny Melendez said. “We feel that what's going on right now is an attack directly on us, on the Latino and on the Hispanic community. So we want to stop that as a first step,” 

Representatives of the association told Channel 5 News they want lawmakers to create a legal path for their workers or expand and simplify the work permit process.