Thread: Trump's visa changes are clawing a famous crab town. And they voted for him. New rest

Trump's visa changes are clawing a famous crab town. And they voted for him.

New restrictions on a program that allowed seasonal foreign workers to enter the U.S. are devastating Hoopers Island, Maryland.

by Kendall Breitman / May.15.2018 / 4:41 AM ET

Banner Year Forecast For Lower Chesapeake Blue Crabs

HOOPERS ISLAND, Maryland — This community voted overwhelmingly for Donald Trump. But now his immigration restrictions are killing their livelihood — legendary crabs that are a mainstay of the local economy and a regional delicacy.

For decades, Hoopers Island, known for its crabbing industry, has relied on a federal seasonal work program — known as H-2B visas — to keep its businesses humming. This has allowed employers to hire foreigners, mostly Mexican women, to come temporarily to pick crab meat.

But this year, the Trump administration's cap on H-2B visas — and a shift from a first-come, first-served based model to a lottery system that has disadvantaged Hoopers Island seasonal workers — has left the island without 40 percent of the visas they have needed in the past.

"Right now, we're shut down," said Morgan Tolley, manager of A.E. Phillips and Sons Seafood. "We're in self preservation mode."

Just two miles away, in what should be the start to the peak season, Harry Phillips, the owner of Russell Hall Seafood, stands in an empty picking room once filled with the women he's had working for him for over 25 years.

"We can't operate the way we're going," Phillips told NBC News. "I've had to let truck drivers go. I don't need truck drivers if I don't have the product. It's going to affect us to the point where we may have to totally close."

"(President Trump's) vow was to create American jobs, but this is not creating American jobs,” Phillips said.

In 2016, Trump won easily in Dorchester County, which includes all of Hoopers Island, largely based off of his pledge to help small businesses.

Capt. Larry "Boo" Powley, a fifth-generation fisherman who makes his living catching bait for crabs, pulls his boat into Russell Hall and says his small business is hurting. At a time when he would usually bring in roughly 300 boxes of crab bait, he's been limited to just 100 boxes a day.

"The more demand that there is for bait, the better I do," Powley said. "Right now, there's no demand because they can't handle the crabs because they have no pickers. And it's really hurting us right now."

"How would you like to be in business for 30 years and they tell you, 'Well, we're going to pick out of a hat if you're going to run your business or not?' How do people stay in business? Does Washington not get it? You've got to have workers," Powley said.

For years, Powley and other watermen have fished for crab bait to deliver to processors like Russell Hall Seafood. Those processors use the fish, particularly menhaden, to lure crabs, bring them back to their facilities and steam them. Once they're steamed, these seasonal workers, who stay from roughly April to November, pick the meat from the crabs, package it and send it off to stores and restaurants.

While the town usually receives 500 visas for crab pickers, this year only about 300 were approved.

Forty years ago, women who lived on Maryland's Eastern Shore would pick crab meat. But as their children grew older, more educated and left town, that workforce dried up and businesses turned to the H-2B visa program to bring in foreign workers.

"We've been doing this 25 years the right way, the way the government wanted," Phillips said. "They're not a threat to the community, they spend money in the community and they do their banking here. So to me that looks like a win-win situation."

"I do not have any Americans that want to do this job," said Brian Hall, the owner of G.W. Hall & Sons seafood, one of the few facilities on the island that was able to secure enough H-2B visas this year. "We support a lot of different businesses from a lot of different states and it's all because of these H-2B girls."

The Trump administration is expected to add about 15,000 H-2B visa this year because of high demand. But with crabbing season already underway, and because of the long trek from Mexico to Hoopers Island, many here worry that it may be too little, too late.

Of the eight crab processing facilities on Hoopers Island, only four received the visas they requested. Beyond those businesses, others are feeling the effects as well.

"Our business has very much suffered because of the loss of the people here," said Katie Doll, the owner of Hoopers Island General Store, the only general store within 30 miles. "The trucks aren't running, the boats aren't working, our hours are less."

Beyond Hoopers Island, the new policy is not only costing jobs, but is expected to hit consumers who enjoy the famous Maryland Blue Crabs. "A typical crab cake might be four times the price,” Doll said.

But given the chance, many Hoopers Island resident say they'd vote for Trump again. They say that if he knew about their struggling businesses, he would change his policy.

"I just don't think Donald Trump knows what's going on down here right now," Powley said. "Because if you're for business, well, you're putting businesses out of work here."

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/don...n-they-n874041

You need different skill sets than what we have in DHS to manage these programs. If you're not paying attention to the market and don't understand it, you don't know how to deal with it. If you're going to cut these H2B visas or refuse to issue enough to deal with the legal seasonal workers these businesses have relied on for decades, then you have to out there the year before telling them that so they can implement hiring programs to lure as many American workers to their little seafood and fishery towns from other locations in the US as possible, people who don't have kids in school who can and are willing to relocate to a seaside fishing community for 6 months to do this work from April to November.

We need to cut H1B visas and green cards and asylum seekers and refugees and illegal aliens. 5 times more illegal aliens were admitted into the US this year than all the legal seasonal workers these businesses that use the H2B visas needed for the whole season, who come, work and leave, legally. That makes no sense.

We have thousands on welfare and food stamps who do not work.

Tap the welfare office for this seasonal work.

If uneducated 3rd world people coming here can do the job...so can they or cut off the welfare and food stamps.

Most welfare people are women with kids, they can't do this out of town work. So forget them. You have to find women who don't have kids who are not on welfare and not in school for these jobs. Men could do some of the work, but not the picking work, most men don't have the hand and finger dexterity, it's why women are hired for most of these hands-on food processing jobs.

In the big picture, this communities support of Trump really has virtually no bearing on his overall support. Maryland was a landslide victory for Hillary Clinton and was one of the first states called for the Democrats. This SOB story for more foreign labor from a small pocket of voters is really inconsequential.

The H2B visa program itself is inconsequential. It's short-term seasonal work where they come, they work, they leave. It's 66,000 visas in most years, increased nominally to adjust for bumper seasons or good economies. I don't have a problem with either the H1A or H2B visa programs. All this howling about this program while green cards remain at 1,000,000 a year and 30 million illegal aliens roam the land just doesn't make much sense to me.

Originally Posted by Judy

Most welfare people are women with kids, they can't do this out of town work. So forget them. You have to find women who don't have kids who are not on welfare and not in school for these jobs. Men could do some of the work, but not the picking work, most men don't have the hand and finger dexterity, it's why women are hired for most of these hands-on food processing jobs.

Women on welfare need to get a babysitter and babysit for EACH other!

No more breed and feed programs...get to WORK!

Originally Posted by Judy

The H2B visa program itself is inconsequential. It's short-term seasonal work where they come, they work, they leave. It's 66,000 visas in most years, increased nominally to adjust for bumper seasons or good economies. I don't have a problem with either the H1A or H2B visa programs. All this howling about this program while green cards remain at 1,000,000 a year and 30 million illegal aliens roam the land just doesn't make much sense to me.

You know very well that these folks are keeping wages down and taking jobs American should have. You also know of the abuses in the program. Furthermore, I'm sure you know some of these folks overstay their visa and never return home. Nope, unlike you, I'm not going to support the importing of "cheaper" labor that keeps American's wages lower than they should be.

Seems I remember you being against the programs too until it was made public that Donald Trump was using the H-2B visa program to hire his maids, waitstaff, chiefs, etc. for his Mar-a-Lago resort.

No, not the legal H1A and H2B programs, I've always supported them and wished our businesses used them for seasonal agriculture, fisheries, and tourist industries instead of illegal aliens. Under those programs, the employer is responsible for ensuring they leave the country, pay market wages, prove need for the visa, and pay all taxes on the wages, even though the worker receives no benefit. I do think with wages so high now in agricultural work that farmers who developed network programs from inner cities and other high unemployment areas especially where a lot of young males are out of work, that they would find a competent and hard-working labor force and the employees would enjoy the travel and new experiences especially to those locations on the west coasts of the United States.

But they have to develop these programs far ahead of time, they can't wait until the last minute, they'll have to train, pay transportation expense, arrange for housing and so forth. On the H2B, I honestly don't see that working out too well because most of those are female jobs and I just don't see young single women without kids, not on welfare, going to these remote fishery towns to work for 6 or less months.

Maybe, but again the businesses would have to plan way in advance to organize the workers, train them, pay for their transportation and arrange suitable housing which takes time, so to do that, you would need to start planning and recruiting way in advance and in a tight labor market, there's still the chance they won't show up because they found a better job locally where they live.

High school juniors and seniors would be good sources for this work, during the summer but the season for the fisheries overlaps the end of one school year and the beginning of another. Same for the winter tourist season, so that doesn't work out well with that group. You would need a business agency that specializes in this to do the work in recruiting and training and making all the arrangements, a temporary service of some type and to what gain? Not much if any. Probably a negative at the end of the day.

The H1A and H2B programs need to be way down on the list of immigration issues. Focus on getting these 1,000,000 permanent green cards eliminated, stopping asylum seekers, refugees and UACs, and deporting 30 million illegal aliens already in the country, that should keep you busy for a long time the way you're doing it.

Who pays medical care for all these foreign workers? What if they are hurt on the job? Get pregnant!!!

Hire American!!!