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WLRN Public Media | By Elizabeth Insuasti
A new report shows the Miami metro area leads the nation in its reliance on foreign-born hotel workers — an industry now on edge as the Trump administration intensifies its immigration enforcement efforts.
The study, released by travel site Luxury Link by crunching the latest U.S. Census Bureau data, found that 65% of hotel workers in Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach were born outside the United States — more than double the national average of 31%.
According to the Luxury Link report, among hotel jobs with the highest employment, dishwashers represent the largest share of foreign-born workers at 58%. Close behind are gambling service roles — like casino dealers and floor staff — where 53% are foreign-born.
About half of food prep workers (50%) and housekeepers (49%) were also born outside the U.S. Significant portions of other essential roles, including cooks (41.3%), laundry staff (41.1%), and dining room attendants (40.1%), are foreign-born as well. Even food prep supervisors reflect this trend, with 40% coming from abroad.
“These concentrations reflect long-standing labor trends in the hospitality industry, where foreign workers often fill essential, physically demanding positions that support hotel operations from the ground up,” the report states.
The findings come as the Trump administration ramps up immigration enforcement, prompting alarm from farm and hospitality industries that depend on immigrant labor.
But Trump himself has see-sawed back and forth in talking about his administration’s immigration raids of hotels, restaurants and farms.
On June 12, he posted on his social media site, Truth Social, that his administration’s “very aggressive policy on immigration is taking very good, long time workers away from them, with those jobs being almost impossible to replace.”
Less than a week later, June 17, a top Homeland Security Department official posted on X: “There will be no safe spaces for industries who harbor violent criminals or purposely try to undermine ICE’s efforts,” reaffirming the administration’s deportation strategy.
Then, on June 29, Trump said his administration was working on “some kind of a temporary pass” that could give farmers and hotel owners control over immigration raids at their facilities. No specific policy has been made public.
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