Around half of Maryland’s crab processing plants will close permanently if President Donald Trump’s new executive order freezing work visas through 2020 is maintained next year, according to an industry leader.
Maryland’s processing plants rely on H-2B visa guest workers to pick the meat found in crabcakes, cream of crab soup and crab imperial, said Bill Sieling, executive director at Chesapeake Bay Seafood Industries Association.
Local employees used to be more common, but worker shortages partially brought about by residents dying, retiring and moving away have caused the number of plants in the state to decrease by about 70 percent since the 1970s.
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