Student work visa cuts could hurt Ocean City businesses

With the Ocean City tourist season winding down, some businesses are concerned they may lose much of their seasonal workforce if the Trump administration reduces or eliminates the J-1 student visa program.

Many young Americans simply don't want to work for only three months, said Brooks Trimper, operations manager at Trimper's Rides, an amusement park on the Boardwalk that employs about 130 J-1 students each summer. That category of visa offers cultural and educational exchange opportunities in the United States through a variety of programs overseen by the U.S. State Department.

The family that has owned the Boardwalk amusement park for more than 120 years said it would call for serious strategizing if the program was eliminated. 

"I'm not sure we will survive if the J-1 visa program is gone," said Trimper.

And Trimper's Rides wouldn't be the only beach amusement park staple to be affected at the beach. 

Chris Darr, personnel manager at Funland in Rehoboth Beach, said he and other businesses are in disbelief that the program might be canceled. J-1 workers are an integral part of the business, he said.

This summer there were more than 30 students on a J-1 visa working for Funland.

“During August, we see a lot of Americans go back to school, and we don’t have enough to keep it going,” he said. “So we need the help of the J-1 visa students.”

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The White House may be considering reducing the exchange visitor program, which brings in more than 100,000 foreign students to the U.S. each summer, often to work in tourist locales like Ocean City, according to a recent report in the Wall Street Journal.

While the J-1 program's future is still up in the air, the Justice Department announced Tuesday morning that it is ending the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, also known as DACA, which was created under the Obama Administration in 2012, and has shielded nearly 800,000 young immigrants in the country illegally from deportation.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said Congress will have six months to replace the policy with legislation.

President Donald Trump is considering reducing the J-1 program as part of his "Buy American and Hire American" executive order he issued in April, which calls for a review of U.S. immigration rules to make sure the interests of American workers are protected, according to the Wall Street Journal report.

Trimper's in Ocean City is not the only business worried. 

Foreign workers are an invaluable part of seasonal operations for Jeff Burton, director of operations for Ocean Taps, which operates multiple Taphouse Bar and Grill restaurants along the Boardwalk.

"We have trouble getting enough American kids to come to work,” he said. “In the height of our season, we're about 50 percent foreign kids.”

Burton noted that six of the 11 employees staffing the 4th Street Taphouse Bar and Grille at the time he was interviewed were foreign students.

The season has already gotten into full swing by the time U.S. schools are beginning their summer breaks, Burton said, which causes serious staffing issues during the busiest time of the year.

“We’ll hold spots for American kids to come in that we’ve met at job fairs, but we can never hire enough,” Burton said. “These foreign students fill in all the gaps. It really works.

“They're eager to learn, eager to work, and they'd work as many hours as you're willing to offer them."

And according to local officials, the number of visiting workers is not insubstantial.

“Here at Ocean City, we typically see about 4,000 workers that come over,” said Melanie Pursel, executive director of the Greater Ocean City Maryland Chamber of Commerce. “They come to Ocean City usually around May or June and work for about three months.”

Pursel said it’s a misperception that the J-1 program is taking American jobs.

“These students are coming here to work, to experience the U.S. and then go back to their home countries. They’re not taking American jobs,” she said.

According to Trimper, many young Americans simply don’t want to work for only three months.

“I’m offering great, fun jobs for three months and I can’t really get a lot of people that want to take those jobs," he said.

Trimper’s employees have to be at least 18 to operate the rides, he said, so that excludes many high school students; meanwhile many U.S. college students go back to school in mid-August.

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Restaurants and amusements parks are just part of the Ocean City business pie that uses student workers. 

"We wouldn't be able to function and would probably have to shut down at least half of the hotel," if the J-1 program is cut, said Greg Dominguez, front office manager at the Grand Hotel and Spa. The hotel employs about 100 J-1 students each summer.

The hotel would struggle, Dominguez said, because the J-1 students take on so many different roles. The students are front office clerks, housekeepers, maintenance workers, servers and cooks.

Not just restaurant workers 

Ocean City businesses wouldn't be the only ones that suffer.

“It’s more than just a work program,” Pursel said. “It’s really a cultural exchange program and these students really give a lot to the guest experience as well.”

Visitors to the town enjoy learning from the students and hearing about their home countries, and the J-1 students learn what it’s like to live and work in America, she said.

Laura Andrei, a hostess at the 4th Street Taphouse Bar and Grille, is a 21-year-old J-1 student from Iaci, Romania. She'll be working at the Boardwalk restaurant until late September, then spend a month traveling and seeing her host country.

She's on a break from getting a medical degree in Romania and aspires to be a surgeon. This is her second summer in America.

Although she misses her parents, she said she's grown to love Ocean City and has every intention of coming back in future summers as she continues her education.

"I like this city and I want to see the rest of America,” she said. “But I feel like Ocean City feels like home to me, even after just two months.”

Ana Pirnea, 24, is also from Romania. She works as a ride operator at Trimper's and this is her second year as a J-1 student. She worked in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, last summer.

She said the students are not mainly here for the money. "They are here just to feel the American experience," she said and "to have fun."

"Europe is just Europe. You want to know something else," Pirnea said. "You want to get to know people. You want to see the world."

She said she was inspired to come to America as a J-1 student after one of her friends spent the summer in Atlanta and told her how amazing the experience was.

A support system

Though the students are around for only three months, the businesses — and the community as a whole — treat them quite well, Pursel said.

"The businesses treat all of their employees like family," said Pursel. "This is a very small town at heart here in Ocean City."

Marie-Noelle Sayan, owner of the King Charles hotel, often takes her J-1 students to Walt Disney World at the end of the season, said Susan Jones, executive director of the Ocean City Hotel-Motel-Restaurant Association.

Nikola Stefancinova, 24, from Slovakia, works the front desk at the Grand Hotel and Spa. She said the hotel often organizes lunches for the students. There is also an employee of the month at the hotel, awarded exclusively to J-1 students — Stefancinova received a $50 credit card for winning last month.

"With the Americans we work with, we are treated as equals," she said.

A local Presbyterian church offers free meals to J-1 students every Monday and a free surfing school each Wednesday.

"I appreciate what the church does," said Stefancinova.

Her landlords have also been quite generous, she said. "They take great care of us," she said. "They cook for us and take us to Wal-Mart."

There is even an Irish Outreach Center that helps those students with housing and any other issues. There are about 300 Irish students in Ocean City, said Rick Fairbend, who, along with his wife, Pat, opened the center earlier this year.

The center's Facebook page says that "If you need bedding, towels, pots and pans, tea pots plus other items stop in. Or if you just need a shoulder to lean on we are here for you."

Ultimately, the students return to their home countries with fond memories and stories.

"They give America good press," said Trimper. "We need that right now."

Staff reporter Gray Hughes contributed to this report.