Trump's student visa pause threatens restaurant staffing
Add Axios as your preferred source to
see more of our stories on Google.
Brennan's Restaurant has a nearly 80-year history in the French Quarter. Photo: Chelsea Brasted/Axios
Since reopening in 2014, Brennan's Restaurant in the French Quarter has struggled to stay fully staffed — but general manager Christian Pendleton says they've gotten closer in recent years thanks to overseas recruiting.
Why it matters: Now, that's in jeopardy as the Trump administration cracks down on the student visas that Brennan's and others in the hospitality industry use to fill their ranks.
Catch up quick: Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued a directive this week ordering U.S. embassies to pause student visa applications, Axios' Jason Lalljee reports.
- The Trump administration is also considering requiring a review of visa applicants' social media.
State of play: At Brennan's, which needs about 250 people to operate, the restaurant hires staff as interns through culinary and hospitality schools in the students' home countries. Once here, they work through a yearlong track either in front-of-house hospitality or in the kitchen, owner Ralph Brennan tells Axios New Orleans.
- The students, Brennan said, earn the same wages and benefits as their local counterparts.
How it works: The visas that interns for Brennan's and other hospitality industry employers use fall under the J-1 category, which is impacted by the pause.
- F-1 visas are for those enrolled in academic programs, such as at colleges and universities, and J-1 visas are for those enrolled in specific educational exchange programs.
What they're saying: "We were worried about places that could take students just to use them as cheap labor, but we don't feel that way," said Princes Arevalo, a previous Brennan's exchange staffer, in a 2016 conversation with The Times-Picayune's Ian McNulty. "We feel lucky to be here, because they have a program and a plan for us."
- Brennan declined to connect Axios New Orleans with a current student out of concern for their visa status.
Flashback: Soon after the restaurant's 2014 reopening, Pendleton went to Brennan with an idea to explore hiring students from overseas.
- "Ralph was apprehensive," Pendleton said during a media event this week. "He wanted Americans to have these jobs, especially New Orleanians."
- But, eventually, as hiring remained difficult, Brennan relented, telling him to "give it a shot," Pendleton recalled.
Pendleton hit the road to interview students interested in learning high-end hospitality in the Southern U.S. He has since made near-annual recruiting trips.
- The first group of students came from the Philippines. Soon enough, others followed from Botswana, Kenya, Uganda, Zimbabwe and South Africa, especially.
- "The first year … we interviewed like 600 kids," Pendleton said, noting that the hiring source has been especially valuable since the coronavirus pandemic.
- Since then, the interns have become a unique part of Brennan's staff as they experience life in New Orleans and exchange cultural experiences — especially food — with their new colleagues.
By the numbers: Today, about 10% of Brennan's staff are J-1 visa holders, Brennan says, which is the most the government allows.
- If their ability to continue the program disappears, Brennan says, "it will have an impact."
- "It won't be crushing," he clarifies, "but I hope it doesn't [disappear] because it's been a very successful program for us."
What we're watching: It's not clear when the Trump administration will lift its pause on visa application interviews.
- "I don't know what [the post-pause] process will be, but we've had no trouble with any of these individuals because they're here to learn," Brennan said. "They ask a lot of questions, they work really hard, they want to learn and take their skills back to their home country."