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Senate Immigration Bill Includes J1 Visa Section that Could Hurt Door County

Tucked deep in the massive immigration reform bill that the U.S. Senate passed to much fanfare on June 27 are a couple of paragraphs that could mean trouble for Door County businesses and for other seasonal locations in Wisconsin and across the country that employ foreign students through the J1 visa program.

Under the proposal, which now goes to the House, where the Republican majority has already said it hasn’t a chance of passage,

sponsoring organizations of foreign student workers who come to the United States for seasonal work under the J1 Visa program would be required to pay a $500 fee for each student worker.

“We think that would really impact the program and hinder employers. Some of them hire 10, 20, 30 students, sometimes more. To pay $500 for each participant would really make them think twice,” said Dan Munroe, employer relations coordinator with CCI Greenheart, one of the sponsoring organizations targeted in the Senate bill.

“We don’t feel it’s fair that the J1 program has been put into the immigration bill,” Munroe said. “The immigration bill is really large and they just kind of threw this in, about four or five lines about the J1 program, and, unfortunately, those four or five lines can have a drastic impact on the program. So we’re trying to get the word out to employers to be able to put letters and phone calls into their representatives to let them know they really care about the program and that it is very useful, especially in areas like Door County and the Wisconsin Dells where it’s very seasonal work.”

The J-1 program was established at the height of the Cold War by the Fulbright-Hays Act of 1961, also known as the Mutual Educational and Cultural Exchange Act of 1961, to strengthen relations between the U.S. and other countries.

“It is a really great program, just in terms of participants coming and really working on their English and learning about America. It gives other countries ideas of what America is really all about. It’s almost a diplomacy program,” Munroe said. “That’s why we try to work with Door County so much. It’s a really great part of America that people will want to take back. It’s just a really strong location for the participants to be in.”

And for many seasonal employers, the J1 program is the only way they are able to staff their operations.

Jewel Peterson Ouradnik, owner/manager at Rowleys Bay Resort, starts the hiring process for the next season as soon as the season ends.

“I start doing Skype interviews in November. I don’t wait until March. I can’t afford to,” she said. “I interview about 10 to 15 people on Skype for every one I even made an offer to, so you can imagine the amount of time this all takes.”

This year she had hoped to hire 25 international students and ended up with a dozen.

“All my Russians were refused this year. They’re just not getting their visas. We don’t know what’s going on politically,” she said. “Last year I hired five or six students from Ghana, but only one got his visa.”

A request for comment on why the J1 Visa program was included in the immigration bill to the office of U.S. Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., one of the Gang of Eight who crafted the bill, was not returned.

Area employers say if it is an effort to keep American jobs for Americans, it is completely misguided.

“I can’t get enough Americans, particularly in the entry level jobs,” Ouradnik said. “Dishwashing and housekeeping are two of the hardest jobs to hire for. Traditionally we have used international staff to fill those entry-level jobs. I really do depend heavily on the J1 Visa students for the entry-level jobs. There just are not enough applicants.”

“They are not taking jobs from Americans,” echoed Joanne Stanzel, human resources director at the Landmark Resort. “We’ve been running ads since March, but it’s tough to hire (Americans) for housekeeping because they don’t want to do that kind of job. Most or our international students are in housekeeping and a couple are in the restaurant, dishwashing and cleaning.”

The Landmark is so invested in the foreign student work program that in 1999 it built a two-story dormitory to house its student workers. It has 21 J1 Visa students this summer, most from Bulgaria, but also a Chinese student who is spending her third summer working there, and a student each from Turkey and Macedonia.

Stanzel said. “It’s a good cultural experience for everybody. Our employees start asking in January, ‘Where are we getting our students from this year?’ Our guests enjoy talking to them. Last year we had a couple of Polish students who interacted with some people from Poland we had here.”

Stanzel said she has been to two listening sessions held by Sen. Ron Johnson.

“Ron Johnson has been a very big advocate for keeping the J1 Visa program,” she said. “We’re hoping it gets knocked out of the bill, otherwise I’m sure it will affect us. If it makes the sponsors pull out, it will leave us with a lot more work.”

“The program is central to business in Door County,” said Kaaren Northrop of Main Street Market in Egg Harbor, where international students have been hired for at least 15 years.

“Really the big start of that was when the Landmark Resort built a dorm for these students because a huge part of hiring summer employees, no matter where they’re from, is that they have to have a place to live,” she said. “They built a dormitory and brought all these kids, primarily from Poland. They came to us because they were looking for second jobs, so we hired a bunch of them. Since then, we have always hired a fair number of international kids.”

Northrop said they have since purchased an Egg Harbor home that houses anywhere from 10 to 15 international students during the season.

“We would all be sunk if we didn’t have the ability to hire these international kids who come at the end of May and stay until the end of September,” she said. “American kids have to leave the county in the middle of August and go to college, so the program is vital.”

Volunteers Build Bridges with International Student Workers

All work and no play makes for a dull cultural experience for international students who come to Door County to work through the J1 Visa program.

“The State Department (which oversees the J1 Visa program) may say it’s a cultural program, but it’s a work program. We say to the merchants in Door County, let us be the cultural component,” said Dave Detert, who with his wife, Joyce, administers the Bridges of Friendship with International Students of Door County.

“These kids are trapped here. There’s nothing for them to do,” Dave said. “There’s no transportation here and they all live in the toolies.”

With the support of five (soon to be six) area churches and volunteers who contribute skills and time, Bridges organizes outings throughout the season for the international students, as well as transportation, and weekly English as Second Language classes. They have also teamed with the Lions Club of Sister Bay to provide bicycles that the international students are able to rent for $10 for the entire season.

The program began 17 years ago, but was named the Bridges of Friendship only five years ago.

“Another couple started it 17 years ago and they ran it by themselves until they ran out of gas,” Dave said.

“The program was operative when we moved up to Door County in 2004. It was very attractive to us,” said Joyce.

Two international students take part in a Bridges social gathering.

“In 2009, they asked us to lead it and we assembled a team,” Dave added. “We love doing this. It’s a passion for us.”

He said retired snowbirds are the reason the program works so well in Northern Door.

“There are a lot of snowbirds up here,” he said. “A lot of them have traveled internationally. They have some wealth. Some have health. These kids are like surrogate grandchildren. We all have grandchildren, but we don’t get to see them that often. So they are like grandchildren to us. It works well here. It wouldn’t work well everywhere.”

The couple estimates the program reaches about 200 international students working in Door County each summer.

“I’m sure there’s more we don’t touch,” Dave said. “It’s a drop in the bucket compared to the 2,000 they have in Wisconsin Dells and 80,000 in the nation. We had 27 countries represented last summer.”

The group arranges outings for the students every other week in order to get them out to experience why so many people come to Door County, everything from a hike to kayaking to a cruise. The final event of the season is a traditional Thanksgiving dinner. Food is a component of each outing, and that’s where the affiliated churches come in. They take turns providing food for the group outings. The churches are

Bethel Baptist Church, Ellison Bay; Door of Life Church, Ephraim; First Baptist Church, Sister Bay; Immanuel Lutheran Church, Baileys Harbor; Shepherd of the Bay Church, Ellison Bay. Detert said the council of the Ephraim Moravian church also decided to join in helping the program.

“An interesting mix, two Lutherans two Baptists and a charismatic church. That’s a little odd,” Detert said. “But we do this because we’re Christians. Jesus teaches us to reach out and be kind to foreigners and strangers. We don’t preach this to the kids, but it’s a part of why we do this. It’s interesting that that goal transcends all the funny differences. There’s an awful lot that divides us, but this transcends that.”

The group also runs a program called American Connection. The students can sign up for it on the Bridges website. Once they do so, they are connected with an American family.

“It’s an opportunity for students to get a friendship with an American family,” Detert said. “These kids are in a foreign country. They don’t have friends. They’re emotionally unsettled. Befriend them. Take them to your house for lunch. Some of them don’t get a chance to see the beauty of Door County. The kids learn that if they’re nice to the family, they might get taken shopping to Sturgeon Bay, or if you’re really nice, they might take you to Green Bay where they have a mall.”

The Deterts said many long-term friendships have been established through the program, which is why he says, “This may be the most important thing we do.”

For more information, visit dcbridges.org.