Latin America

Judi Lynn

(160,542 posts) Mon Jun 18, 2018, 11:26 PM Jun 2018

New migrant rules could shutter some Maryland crab houses

New migrant rules could shutter some Maryland crab houses
Updated 6:52 pm, Monday, June 18, 2018

BALTIMORE (AP) — Many Maryland crab houses expect to stay idle this summer after U.S. immigration officials approved additional migrant worker visas this month for only one picking house.

The Baltimore Sun reports the H-2B visas for seasonal workers were awarded by lottery for the first time this year due to high demand for workers from multiple industries. The crab houses that lost out will have to function without more than a third of their regular seasonal workers. Idle crab houses could drive up the price of Maryland's crab meat.

Bill Sieling is the director of the Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industries Association. He says the move to a lottery system threatens the future of the state's crab houses. The Sun reports that seafood companies say they can't find U.S. citizens willing to do the difficult work.

https://www.chron.com/news/us/article/New-migrant-rules-could-shutter-some-Maryland-13005303.php

LBN:
https://www.democraticunderground.com/10142087651

(Short article, no more at link.)

4 replies

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New migrant rules could shutter some Maryland crab houses (Original Post) Judi Lynn Jun 2018 OP

Yeah, the price was already high. We are now moving into only for the rich. dhol82 Jun 2018 #1

Tony Bourdain has a few words on the subject Xipe Totec Jun 2018 #2

Or, more succinctly... Xipe Totec Jun 2018 #3

I know how to pick crabs and I was taught by my aunt beveeheart Jun 2018 #4

dhol82

(9,353 posts)

1. Yeah, the price was already high. We are now moving into only for the rich.

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Mon Jun 18, 2018, 11:29 PM

Jun 2018

Wonder if that was the plan all along?

Xipe Totec

(43,890 posts)

2. Tony Bourdain has a few words on the subject

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Mon Jun 18, 2018, 11:31 PM

Jun 2018

Despite our ridiculously hypocritical attitudes towards immigration, we demand that Mexicans cook a large percentage of the food we eat, grow the ingredients we need to make that food, clean our houses, mow our lawns, wash our dishes, and look after our children. As any chef will tell you, our entire service economy—the restaurant business as we know it—in most American cities, would collapse overnight without Mexican workers. Some, of course, like to claim that Mexicans are “stealing American jobs.” But in two decades as a chef and employer, I never had ONE American kid walk in my door and apply for a dishwashing job, a porter’s position—or even a job as a prep cook. Mexicans do much of the work in this country that Americans, probably, simply won’t do.

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10155369580361610&set=a.10150335931396610.341367.539531609&type=3&theater

Xipe Totec

(43,890 posts)

3. Or, more succinctly...

Reply to Xipe Totec (Reply #2)

Mon Jun 18, 2018, 11:33 PM

Jun 2018

beveeheart

(1,369 posts)

4. I know how to pick crabs and I was taught by my aunt

Reply to Judi Lynn (Original post)

Tue Jun 19, 2018, 01:05 AM

Jun 2018

Who picked them for a living on the Eastern Shore of Maryland. She was fast, would have a pile of crab meat in front of her and I was still working on my first crab.

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