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Mexican Women Are A Lifeline For Maryland's Crab Industry

Harry Phillips with master picker Elpidia Martinez, one of 600 Mexican seasonal migrant workers, mostly women, who get H-2B visas to work in Maryland. The state’s seafood industry says each worker supports 2.5 American jobs. (Armando Trull/WAMU)
Harry Phillips with master picker Elpidia Martinez, one of 600 Mexican seasonal migrant workers, mostly women, who get H-2B visas to work in Maryland. The state’s seafood industry says each worker supports 2.5 American jobs. (Armando Trull/WAMU)

Each summer, around 600 Mexican women come to Hooper’s Island in Maryland under the H-2B visa program to do jobs their employers say Americans don’t want.

Armando Trull (@trulldc) of WAMU reports that for more than two decades, the women have helped keep the iconic seafood alive.

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