Federal immigration officials have agreed to approve 15,000 new guest worker visas for seasonal work, including in a Maryland crab industry grappling with a significant labor shortage, U.S. Rep. Andy Harris said Thursday.
U.S Citizenship and Immigration Services would not confirm any changes to its H-2B visa program, which brings 66,000 immigrants to the country for work that employers can show they are unable to hire Americans to do.
But Maryland’s lone Republican congressman said the expected approval was imminent, and that he is working with President Donald Trump’s administration to find a way to raise the cap on the visas or to allow Maryland seafood businesses to employ workers through a different visa program.
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20 comments:
Unable to hire because.... Please give examples.
Yes. Crabs (*>Pick*) now back to ill eagles Andy harris . In Salisbury ghetto queens. Work at crabs = welfair check. Ick
I knew smart/pragmatic minds would prevail.
I'm sure 15000 people on welfare could / should be put to work . What a country
Quest workers will at end of season never leave and become illegals on welfare. Great immigration idea.
Hire Americans. Pay more supply and demand works with labor also.
Instead of paying Americans a decent wage they will just import cheaper people for more of our tax money to take care of! Sounds solid!
The folks that used to pick crabs now have SNAP cards and don't have to work any more. Harris knows this and should not be fighting for more guest workers.
We had picking machines years ago. Surly we have the technology to pick crabs with machines and should not need to do that manually anymore. I would rather have clean meat picked by machine than picked by a foreign worked that could have who knows what kind of disease.
When the work visa's expire they just hide in our country.
Crab picking is a semi-skilled job. It's not sitting at a table with a few beers and opening 12 crabs in an hour. Try picking 3-4 pounds of crab meat in 15 minutes. It's fast paced work that requires attention to detail and you smell like crabs everyday. Lazy welfare to work people would not last more than a few hours before being fired or quitting.
i agree..if you get welfare and are capable of working then they should be made to do volunteer work or at least a part time job. i have to work. Have to work and with small kids so thats no excuse. Pay daycare just like the rest of us. Let the welfare club fills those spots.
Liberals are pushing this issue very hard.
If it wasn't mandatory for the work force to pay so much taxes, there would be less free money for the non-working deadbeats. If the non-working deadbeats had less free money they would gladly pick a crab or vegetable too. Very simple solution for a win, win and everyone would live larger. But what do I know, I'm not a politician, just a mere minion trying to support government (which is suppose to be we the people).
Let the economy work. No more guest workers. Will crabs get more expensive? Yes they will, but think about it, when unemployment goes down wages should go up. Many are working, now that were not before. Guest workers just keep wages low, which keeps the crab prices lower. The people paying the crab pickers now don't have to raise wages. Quit trying to game the system and let the economy work. If any company can't find people for the same wages they have been paying for twenty years, guess what, he needs to pay more until people show up to do that job.
And then you and others will complain about the higher price of crabmeat to pay for those raises.
Someone said it the other day. The only people that will be buying crab meat will be the ones using an EBT card. There should be a limit on things they can buy. Like they can't get anything that is over 5 dollars a pound.
Keep them out. It's the processors that drive up the price of live crabs.
"Anonymous said...
And then you and others will complain about the higher price of crabmeat to pay for those raises.
May 5, 2018 at 9:14 PM"
Dumb comment. First of all if it's gets to over $100 a lb won't bother me. Secondly if someone complains about the price of crabmeat then they really need a life. If someone's life is so insignificant and boring that it reduces them to complain about the price of crabmeat then for their own good they need to be locked away in a mental institution.
So apparently the invention of a crab picking machine is not being made known for what reason?
Agree
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