For Foreign Workers, Dreams Are Deferred
Searching for a source of cheap seasonal labor, employers in the hotel, pool-management and other seasonal industries are increasingly turning to teenagers from Europe and other countries---encouraging them to obtain cultural exchange visas to come and work in the U.S. Likely reinforced by post-September 11 restrictions on the flow of both documented and undocumented immigration, this trend has produced a growing number of cases in which students arrive hoping to spend the summer earning money to pay for their college education, only to find that they have been tricked. Guarantees of employment for the entire summer often evaporate after a few weeks, free company-provided housing ends up being charged for and crowded beyond legal occupancy limits, and promised free transportation never materializes---resulting in many such teenagers barely breaking even after traveling expenses and sometimes losing money.