AS BEACH TOWNS OPEN, BUSINESSES SHORT OF FOREIGN WORKERS

At this time of the year, The Friendly Fisherman on Cape Cod is usually bustling with foreign students clearing tables and helping prepare orders of clam strips or fish and chips. But because of a freeze on visas, Janet Demetri won't be employing the 20 or so workers this summer. So as the crowds rush back, Demetri must work with nine employees for her restaurant and market – forcing her to shutter the business twice a week.

"It's really disturbing because we are really busy," said Demetri. "We can't keep up once the doors are open." The Trump administration announced last month that it was extending a ban on green cards and adding many temporary visas to the freeze, including J-1 cultural exchange visas and H-2B visas.

Businesses from forestry to fisheries to hospitality depend on these visas. The move was billed as a chance to free up 525,000 jobs to Americans hard hit by the economic downturn, though the administration provided no evidence to support that. Supporters of immigration reform have hailed the move and insisted it should be easy to find Americans to bus tables and sell souvenirs at popular tourist destinations. Mark Krikorian, executive director of the Center for Immigration Studies, which advocates for restrictions said, "Those jobs are already mostly done by Americans whether its landscaping, making beds or scooping ice cream. The employers are just going to have to up their game in recruitment because there are 20 million people who are unemployed whom they could be drawing from." Hardest hit are beach communities and mountain getaways up and down the East Coast from parts of New Hampshire to Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Businesses said they want to hire Americans but are in regions with tiny labour pools that are no match for the millions of tourists visiting each summer. Companies also face the challenge of convincing unemployed workers, many who are still collecting federal benefits, to take a job in the hospitality industry amid a pandemic. Rising housing prices as well as a lack of child care amid the pandemic also pose hurdles.

More than 108,000 J-1 summer work travel visas were issued last year, according to the State Department, but only 1,787 so far this year. The ban has lef t seasonal businesses scrambling to fill openings just as economies are restarting. Many are forced to scale back hours and amenities or close completely.

Mark Lazarus, the president and owner of Lazarus Entertainment Group, employs 1,000 workers at his three theme parks. About 150 of those are usually J-1 visa holders but none came this year.