Market Update: We break down the business implications, market impact, and expert insights related to Market Update: Cape Cod’s economy runs on immigrants. US visa pause threatens that. – Full Analysis.
Cape Verde Prime Minister Uvisits Cape Cod Museum and Cultural Center
Cape Verde Prime Minister Ulisses Correia e Silva visits Cape Cod Museum and Cultural Center
Cape Cod business leader Natalia Frois condemned the U.S. State Department’s decision to make an indefinite pause on the issuance of immigrant visas for Brazil and 74 other countries.
The new U.S. immigration visa suspension list, which will also include Cape Verde, has the capacity, said Frois, to flip the Cape’s economy upside down.
“A major part of the Cape’s workforce are immigrants,” said Frois, a Brazilian immigrant and chief executive officer of International Business Relations.
Frois said her clients were already concerned with employee shortages that have occurred in the last four to five years.
“This will make things substantially worse,” said Frois, who immigrated to the Cape 27 years ago.
On Jan. 14, the U.S. State Department announced the new measure via social media and said migrants from the 75 countries “take welfare from the American people at unacceptable rates.”
The change will officially take effect Jan. 21.
Local business owner Carlos Barbosa said most people on Cape Cod are supportive of immigrant communities. They understand, he said, that small business owners across the region need immigrants to support their businesses, especially during the summer months.
“Restaurants and hotels will not be able to stay open without employing immigrants,” said Barbosa. “Last year, establishments were already closing on Mondays and Tuesdays because there weren’t enough employees to work.”
Families already on Cape Cod will also be affected, says Frois
The move to further limit access to America, said Frois, also affects immigrants who are already living on the Cape. They are afraid to leave their homes to go to work, or to send their children to school, because they fear U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers will arrest them.
“If your employees won’t show up, how will you stay open?” said Frois. “Documented or undocumented, immigrants here are walking on eggshells.”
Many immigrants, she said, have also opted to self-deport. The fear, she said, was too much for them to handle emotionally.
“There already is not enough food and housing on the Cape,” she said. “It’s very scary.”
Brazilian immigrant and founder of Latinx in Action Katia DaCunha told the Times that the U.S. and the Cape has been a place where immigrants have felt safe for decades.
“Many people on the Cape have showed up and stood up for immigrants who are in danger,” said DaCunha. “But now we are finding it harder to trust. We don’t feel welcome here.”
Latinx in Action is a community-based organization in Hyannis.
Immigration, said DaCunha, has become a political statement. President Donald Trump, she said, centered his presidential election campaign on his opposition to immigration.
“That’s what this is all about,” she said.
Frois feels that it’s immigrants of color that are being hit the hardest. Immigration Customs Enforcement agents, she said, are using race and skin color to make decisions on who should be arrested and deported, she said.
“Europeans are welcome but not Latinos and Africans,” she said. “But people should know that if the immigrant workforce stops working for one week, the country will stop working.”
Although Frois worries for immigrants of color on the Cape, she said she was encouraged by a meeting that was held in Falmouth on Jan. 22 where many people spoke out in support of immigration.
“There were over 200 people there. The room was packed,” she said. “And it was very impactful. It reminded me that there are people who care.”
Is America becoming a dictatorship?
When Barbosa was living in Brazil as a child and a young man, he said, the form of government was a dictatorship. At that time, he said, the economy and the people were suffering.
Because the environment was unstable, he said, he immigrated to the Cape in 1987. From there he worked dishwashing, hotel housekeeping, and bartending jobs to stay afloat, said Barbosa.
But over the years, he has launched two businesses including Colors of Cape Cod Inc., a construction business; and Copacabana Realty Investment, Inc. Through Colors of Cape Cod, Barbosa said he helps to employ other immigrants.
“Right now we (America) are going in the same direction that Brazil went before,” he said. “We need to be careful.”
For Frois, it’s time for change.
“The American dream has become a nightmare. Immigrants can no longer dream of a safe supportive place to grow,” she said.
Staff writer Rachael Devaney can be reached at rdevaney@capecodonline.com.
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