Immigration reform a hot-button issue

Immigration reform a hot-button issue Myrtle Beach businesses seek solutions By GINA SMITH gnsmith@thestate.com MYRTLE BEACH — The Republican presidential candidates will descend on South Carolina’s largest tourism market today for a debate that could turn on the topic of immigration.

The subject is hot in this city, heavily dependent on seasonal and long-term workers to clean hotel rooms, cook in restaurants and build resorts for an estimated 14 million visitors a year.

Some of those workers are here illegally, business leaders acknowledge, adding they don’t know the number.

But without them, the Myrtle Beach and S.C. economies could be in peril, they add.

Among the GOP candidates, the immigration debate has focused on building walls, patrolling borders and exploring ways to deport the country’s estimated 12 million undocumented workers.

Myrtle Beach business owners say the issue is more complicated. They say they support immigration reform, adding the local economy could be hurt if the federal government isn’t careful.

The tourism- and travel-related sectors are Myrtle Beach’s — and South Carolina’s — largest industry. Together, they account for about $16 billion a year in revenue and employ nearly 11 percent of the state’s population.

When the first tourists hit Myrtle Beach this summer, Woody Crosby, chief executive of Jordan Properties, expects to be wringing his hands, hoping he has enough workers at his hotel.

Crosby and others say an annual cap on visas that allow immigrants to work temporarily in the country and other changes in the law mean they can’t hire enough workers during the summer months. The result, they say, is a worker shortage.

Several big projects are expected to open, including the Hard Rock Park. It will need about 3,000 workers, said Pauline Levesque, chief executive of the Myrtle Beach Area Hospitality Association.

“Going forward, I don’t know if (business owners) can do it,” she said. “You may see places not being able to open or a hotel not opening some of its floors or a restaurant not seating all of its tables or scaling back hours. What does that say about the quality of service in a state where the No. 1 industry is tourism?”

The Myrtle Beach Area Chamber of Commerce estimates about 5,000 jobs could go unfilled this summer if hiring caps are not loosened under the temporary jobs program.

“We’re not talking about illegal immigration,” Crosby said. “We’re talking about people who are here working legally. ...

“But legislators, candidates, everybody is afraid to do anything about it because illegal immigration is such a hot-button topic right now. No one will touch this because visas are getting mixed up in this whole illegal immigration debate. Why aren’t the candidates talking about that?”

Temporarily hiring legal immigrant workers has become so difficult that some business people — but not him — could decide to ignore the law, predicts Frans Mustert, chief executive of Oceana Resorts.

“We’re just asking for illegal immigration,” he said. “People are going to be forced to take people in or lose their businesses.”

Critics says businesses simply should pay more so they can hire U.S. citizens. But many businesses say workers either are unavailable in an area with a low jobless rate or that paying more would make them uncompetitive.

“The labor force is only so large,” said Mustert. “There just aren’t enough workers. You’re only going to end up stealing workers from each other.”

Those in Myrtle Beach’s construction industry worry immigration reform could mean stiff penalties for firms that unknowingly — they say — hire illegal immigrants.

It is difficult to verify whether workers’ documents are authentic or forgeries, they say. In many instances, general contractors rely on subcontractors to verify their workers are in the country legally.

“It’s not up to (the construction industry) to be the immigration police,” said Rose Anne O’Reilly, executive vice president of the Horry Georgetown Home Builders Association. “To really check everyone out ... can you imagine how much time it would take?”

Contractor Ralph Bussey said the presidential candidates could help solve the problem by discussing how they would help businesses tell legal workers from illegal ones.