J-1 Exchange Visitor visa holders, the foreign students who comprise roughly half of Lake George’s seasonal workforce, will arrive this month. If, that is, they arrive at all.
“We’ve heard that some people are getting blocked at consulates, but we won’t know how many until later this month,” said Vinnie Crocitto, the Lake George Town Supervisor and an owner of the Holiday Inn resort. “Some applicants may be unaware of their status until they’re well along in the process.”
If the students are denied entry, it could be because they have fallen afoul of the Trump administration.
According to Gina Mintzer, executive director of the Lake George Regional Chamber of Commerce and Convention & Visitors Bureau, the social media posts of many J-1 Visa holders have been subjected to the scrutiny of US consular officers to determine if their political views align with those of the current administration.
“The US State Department has distributed a cable to consulates around the world informing them that they need to look at the social media of visa applicants, who might be questioned about their interactions within their home countries. One of our local partners has reported that two of their J-1 employees have had their visas pulled,” Mintzer told a committee of Warren County Supervisors on April 21.
The March 26 cable, signed by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, directs State Department employees to review the social media activity of those applying for J-1 Exchange Visitor visas, stating, “Effective immediately, consular officers must refer certain student and exchange visitor visa applicants to the Fraud Prevention Unit (FPU) for a mandatory social media check.”
To identify students who may have protested Israel’s reprisals for the October 7 attacks or who might have received or re-posted opinions sympathizing with Palestinians living in Gaza, the cable directs consular officials to “perform enhanced social media vetting” of anyone granted a visa between October 7, 2023, and August 31, 2024.
Apparently, the cable was issued to enforce compliance with President Trump’s January 20, 2025 executive order authorizing the administration to suspend the entry of any noncitizen who it finds would be “detrimental” to U.S. interests.
The cable adds: “[Any social media] content that could be considered objectionable by a United States consular officer may also be used as a basis for a visa application denial.”
According to former Lake George Village Mayor Bob Blais, local tourism-related businesses (as well as the administration of the Village itself) began relying upon J-1 visa holders to supplement the summer workforce some 15 to 20 years ago.
“There just wasn’t a large enough student workforce to fill the 3,000 jobs available,” said Blais. “For one thing, our season had grown to extend through October and students were returning to school in August, whereas they used to stay at least through Labor Day.”
The Lake George region now employs between 900 and 1500 J-1 visa holders every summer and fall, according to Gina Mintzer. Warren County’s labor pool remains relatively static, and as a result, historically, it has more job openings than workers.
That is the result of a number of factors, said Liza Ochsendorf, the director of Warren County’s Workforce Development agency.
“We have an aging population and as a consequence, a shrinking population of school and college aged people entering the workforce,” said Ochsendorf. “We don’t have enough people, period.”
The lack of affordable housing in the Lake George region also limits the number of workers in search of seasonal employment, Ochsendorf said.
“People would like to live and work here, but they can’t afford to,” she said. “Transportation, when it’s available, can add two hours to the workday, which would be frustrating. If we had more housing, working here would be an option for people now living an hour south of us.”
Throughout the year, Ochsendorf’s Workforce Development Department sponsors job fairs to connect students with potential employers. It also actively encourages employers to seek workers outside traditional labor pools, including teenagers, those who live outside the area, those who are disabled and those and who are “justice impacted,” that is, those with prison records.
And it posts job vacancies where employers can post openings at no charge. “We are working to ensure that anyone who wants to work and is able to work is aware of local jobs that remain unfilled,” said Ochsendorf.
Those efforts notwithstanding, the labor pool will not be sufficient to meet the needs of the region’s employers should the number of J-1 visa holders coming to Lake George this year drop significantly.
“Since many of them work two jobs, you might have to find two employees for every international student we lose,” said Ochsendorf.
In the absence of J-1 workers, a resort such as the Silver Bay YMCA “would have to rely upon staff to work overtime, to pitch in and help one another,” said Walt Lender, the non-profit conference center’s vice-president for development and government relations.
“We’ve already tapped our local labor pool,” said Lender. “We always have positions open and we can’t fill them. We can’t get enough local workers.”
Vinnie Crocitto, the Holiday Inn owner, echoed Lender’s comments. Crocitto, whose resorts employ roughly 40 J-1 visa holders, most of them working at the Holiday Inn, said, “We would have to dig in and work harder. Our managers would have to jump into the housekeeping side and help out.”
Crocitto said his family-owned company would also place “help wanted” ads throughout the area. “Of course we’d advertise, but we’re always advertising. We always try to hire local kids and hope they will stay with us for a few years, at least until they graduate from college,” he said.
As of late April, the Sagamore was unaware of any disruptions in the processing of J-1 visa applications, said its general manager, Tom Guay. His resort employs roughly 100 international students every year, he said.
Warren County’s current rate of unemployment is 4.3%, down slightly from March, 2024. Most economists consider an unemployment rate of less than 5% to be full employment.
You can learn more about J-1 Visa impacts in the Adirondacks at North Country Public Radio.
A version of this article first appeared on the Lake George Mirror, America’s oldest resort paper, covering Lake George and its surrounding environs. You can subscribe to the Mirror HERE.
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Photo: Downtown Lake George courtesy Daniel Case (Creative Commons, some rights reserved)
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