Local restaurant owners face challenges to find, keep employees

HARLINGEN, Texas (ValleyCentral) — Restaurant owners in the Rio Grande Valley are facing challenges in finding and retaining employees.

The Harlingen Economic Development Corporation, in partnership with Workforce Solutions of Cameron County, has developed a new initiative to assist.

Orlando Campos, CEO of the Harlingen EDC, says the corporation is trying to match job-seekers with restaurants that need help.

"Many times they struggle, because they can’t find the employees that they need," Campos said.

Every Tuesday in July, the Harlingen EDC will host micro job fairs at the Harlingen Convention Center to help boost employment.

Campos says there’s been “unanticipated turnover” in the industry, referencing the recent immigration raids that have targeted restaurants.

"One of the reasons we’ve partnered up with Workforce Cameron is we want to make sure that any hires that they do, they do it properly," Campos said.

Benita Quesada, who owns La Fonda de Benny in Harlingen, says the EDC visited her restaurant to ask if she wanted to participate.

“I am in urgent need of someone to make breakfast tacos and someone to wash dishes. We are hoping we can find someone at the meeting tomorrow to fill those positions," Quesada said.

Quesada says that after the raids at local restaurants, particularly El Control across the street, she lost several employees.

She says they either had work permits or were going through the legal immigration process.

But now, she says, they’re scared to come back.

"They took some people, even though some of them had permits like DACA, they still took them. So that’s why a lot of people, although they have their work permits, don’t want to work because ICE isn’t respecting their papers or permits."

Alohim Sanchez, owner of Los Cuates in Harlingen, says immigration officials have visited her restaurant and spoken with her employees.

She says she doesn’t hire anyone who’s not legally authorized to work in the country.

"I had one person come in. She had her work permit, but she said it had expired. She still had the documents, but we couldn’t let her work," Sanchez said.

She sees another problem with finding employees.

"They don’t want the government to know that they’re working because of losing their benefits," Sanchez continued.

Sanchez says that it hurts everyone, from business owners who have to file taxes to other benefit recipients.

The CEO of the Harlingen EDC says he’s aware other industries have also been impacted by immigration crackdowns and says the program may expand in the future to meet those staffing needs.