Mackinac Island, Michigan -- Tuesday, June 6, 2017
From left, Odane Black, Chevis Vanhorne and Mark Barnett, all originally from Jamaica, take a ferry from the Michigan mainland back to Mackinac Island where they work at the Grand Hotel. After years as a seasonal worker, Black immigrated to the United States. Vanhorne is in his fourth year working under the H-2B visa program from April to November. He sends money back to Jamaica to support his two-year-old son. Barnett is in his fourth year in the H-2B program and sends back money to support his family, including his two daughters.
After a recent change to the H-2B visa program, which offers foreign workers temporary, low-skilled jobs, remote American tourism destinations, like Mackinac Island, are struggling to fill seasonal work positions.
CREDIT: Alyssa Schukar for The New York Times
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