As Florida law sparks immigration protests, Trump, other businesses bid for foreign workers

It's not known just how a controversial Florida immigration law will impact Palm Beach County's worker-starved businesses, but it is clear employers such as Donald Trump's Mar-a-Lago and golf clubs are among those that have filed paperwork to bring in an unprecedented number of temporary foreign workers.

Officials at CareerSource Palm Beach County said Wednesday that their tracking of H-2B foreign worker visa applications this year signals that a record 52 employers, including hotels, clubs and resorts, are seeking to bring people from other countries to fill an also record number of positions, 3,123. The hourly pay range for those jobs ranges from $7.98 plus gratuity to $43.50.

"These numbers on H-2B visa applications are ones we've never seen before," said Tom Veenstra, CareerSource vice president of administration.

For example, just 39 hospitality employers applied for visas to fill 2,266 H-2B positions last year.

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The companies filing the requests this year include The Breakers in Palm Beach, BallenIsles Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens and The Polo Club of Boca Raton. The list also includes positions for Trump family enterprises, such as 111 positions for the Mar-a-Lago club that serves as the former president's main residence and another 51 for the Trumps' golf clubs in Jupiter and suburban West Palm Beach.

Trump, who has been indicted in South Florida and New York state, is widely considered the leading candidate for the 2024 GOP presidential nomination.

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The labor market in Florida and Palm Beach County has been extremely competitive for the past few years with unemployment rates at historic lows for 16 months, CareerSource officials pointed out.

Palm Beach County’s unemployment rate in May was 2.7%. For the past 20 months, the county's employers have posted far more open jobs than the number of unemployed people that could theoretically fill them.

The leisure-hospitality industry "is particularly challenged" in being able to hire "as this sector often leads the county in over-the-year job growth and demand," CareerSource said. The most recent report showed leisure-hospitality employers added 5,000 jobs over the year, a 5.5% increase.

And all that was before the state law to crack down on undocumented workers, which has been the source of angst and protest, went into effect Saturday.

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Some businesses have said they are starting to lose employees, not because the individuals are undocumented, but because they fear being profiled. Others report that employees have decided to leave the state because while they have legal status, other relatives did not and they refused to separate their families.

Whether the loss of workers aggravates the labor shortage is still unclear, CareerSource's Veenstra said.

"We won't know a lot of the effect of this until the fall and winter season, both for harvesting out west but also when the hiring begins for the seasonal hospitality people," he said. "It's a little too early."

Restaurateur Burt Rapoport, who owns Max’s Grille, Burt & Max’s, Prezzo and Deck 84 eateries, said he is not too concerned about complying with the state law. He said his properties had already implemented an employment verification system, the E-Verify system, and is not worried about a staff exodus.

But Rapoport said the new law could increase demand for dishwashers or cooks, leading to higher wages for workers and higher costs for employers.

“Absolutely there will be a bidding war for the back of the house,” said Rapoport, referring to jobs such as cooks and dishwashers. He added his company already offers paid vacation and a 401(k) retirement plan for employees.

But with continued labor shortages, “we still have trouble retaining people tempted to take jobs at warehouses or e-retailers paying higher hourly wages," he said.

While employees like the benefits, “at the end of the day, it’s all about the money,” Rapoport said.

Antonio Fins is a politics and business editor at The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida Network. You can reach him at afins@pbpost.com. Help support our journalism. Subscribe today.

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: Trump, Palm Beach County businesses file record foreign worker visas