Credit: DisneyWhen millions of families travel from across the globe to visit Walt Disney World in Central Florida, they are greeted by pristine parks, immersive experiences, and the famous, highly manufactured “Disney magic.” But behind the character greetings, the meticulously landscaped gardens, and the world-class dining experiences sits a massive, dedicated workforce that keeps the economic engine of Central Florida running. Now, an aggressive shift in federal policy is threatening to upend the lives of these essential workers.
President Donald Trump’s mass immigrant detention and deportation agenda is creating a chilling climate of fear and uncertainty for the immigrant workforce in Central Florida’s tourism sector—specifically, the beloved Disney World Cast Members. As federal immigration enforcement tightens, the ripple effects are being felt not just in the homes of vulnerable workers, but across the foundational pillars of Florida’s multi-billion-dollar hospitality industry.
The Hidden Backbone of the Theme Park Capital
To understand the magnitude of this issue, one must look at the demographics of the hospitality sector. Across the nation, about one-third of the hospitality industry workforce—the people staffing hotels, airports, restaurants, and theme parks—are immigrants. In Central Florida, a region that relies almost entirely on tourism to drive its local economy, that concentration is particularly dense.
This issue extends far beyond undocumented workers. The current administration’s proposed changes deeply impact immigrants from countries like Haiti and Venezuela, whose ability to live and work in the United States lawfully has been thrown into chaos. Many of these workers rely on Temporary Protected Status (TPS)—a federal program that allows individuals to remain in the U.S. if their home countries are deemed unsafe due to armed conflict, environmental disasters, or extraordinary conditions like gang violence.
Central Florida’s tourism industry is an economic juggernaut. In 2024 alone, the region welcomed more than 75 million visitors, driving an estimated $5.6 billion in local and state tax revenue. However, the laborers who execute the daily operations required to host 75 million people are increasingly in the crosshairs of federal policy changes, placing the entire industry on a precarious footing.
Living Under Threat: The Human Cost at EPCOT
The political rhetoric surrounding mass deportations often obscures the deeply personal, human reality of the workers affected. At Disney World’s EPCOT, a park famous for celebrating international cultures, the fear of deportation is a daily burden for many Cast Members.
Take Pericles Joseph, a Haitian immigrant who works as a dishwasher at Via Napoli, a popular Italian restaurant located within EPCOT’s World Showcase. Joseph originally came to the United States alone in 2008 seeking economic opportunity. Today, he is a homeowner and a father of two daughters born in the U.S. As one of the more than 300,000 Haitian immigrants lawfully living in the U.S. under TPS, his life is entirely rooted in Central Florida.
Efforts by the Trump administration to revoke TPS designations for several countries have left hundreds of thousands of recipients like Joseph destabilized. With his home country currently paralyzed by severe gang violence, Joseph fears that deportation would put his life—and the lives of his American-born daughters—at grave risk.
Evans Corvoisier, a food handler at Via Napoli who is also from Haiti, shares these intense anxieties. Corvoisier has lived in the United States for nearly 20 years under TPS. The prospect of being forced to return to a country he fled two decades ago is overwhelming.
Isaie Marc, a Haitian immigrant, U.S. citizen, and union representative with Unite Here Local 737—which represents roughly 18,000 workers at Disney World—has been highly vocal about the realities his members face. “We’re not talking about people who have been here six months,” Marc explained to Orlando Weekly. “There are some people who have been here 10, 18, 20 years, so they’ve built a life in the United States. We’re not talking about criminals. There are a lot of people who keep the economy going. That’s who we’re talking about.”
Data supports this assertion. According to the nonpartisan Transactional Records Access Clearinghouse, nearly 75 percent of the roughly 68,000 people detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents as of early February had no criminal convictions.
Economic Fallout: A Chilling Effect on Hospitality
The fear permeating the theme park workforce is beginning to translate into measurable economic consequences. A recent report released by the Unite Here union, appropriately titled “Inhospitable,” warns that mass deportation plans—including the administration’s stated goal of deporting one million people per year—are having a severe chilling effect on industries that employ high concentrations of immigrant workers.
The data reveals a stark reality:
- A Shrinking Workforce: The national hospitality industry workforce shrank by 98,000 workers between December 2024 and December 2025.
- Declining International Tourism: The U.S. saw 2.5 billion fewer trips by international visitors last year, resulting in a 5.5 percent decline in tourism revenue (a loss of $1.2 billion) from September 2024 to September 2025.
- Local Orlando Projections: Visit Orlando predicts a 4.5 percent decline in international visitation for 2025, driven heavily by a massive 13 percent drop in Canadian visitors, who have reportedly shied away from U.S. travel due to ongoing tariff wars and political tensions.
When workers are terrified of losing their livelihoods, or worse, being separated from their families, consumer spending plummets. Immigrant workers in Central Florida pay taxes, buy homes, and spend money at local businesses. As they tighten their belts in preparation for potential legal battles or job losses, the local economy inherently suffers.
Fighting Back: How Unions Are Protecting the Magic
In the face of unprecedented federal pressure, local labor unions are stepping up to protect their vulnerable members. Unite Here Local 737 is actively pushing back against the climate of fear by mobilizing resources and demanding action from local government officials.
The union has recently hosted several free legal clinics, partnering with local immigration attorneys to provide Disney World workers with critical, up-to-date information regarding TPS and other rapidly changing immigration policies.
More impressively, the union has successfully enshrined groundbreaking protections in some of its labor contracts, including those covering Disney workers and employees at several local hotels. These specific clauses guarantee immigrant workers the right to return to their jobs for up to 1 to 2 years if they temporarily lose their work authorization or work visa and subsequently regain it. This vital safety net ensures that a temporary bureaucratic lapse in status does not result in permanent financial ruin for a cast member’s family.
The Future of Florida Tourism
As the political landscape continues to shift, the tension between federal immigration agendas and the operational needs of Central Florida’s tourism industry will only intensify. The immigrant workers who wash dishes, clean hotel rooms, and prep food at places like Disney World are the invisible foundation upon which the region’s $5.6 billion tourism empire is built.
As union representative Isaie Marc succinctly noted regarding the immigrant workforce: “Without them, there is no industry.” Until a clear, secure path forward is established for TPS holders and essential immigrant laborers, a dark cloud of uncertainty will continue to hang over the happiest place on earth.