Crab Industry Considers Prison Labor

Something like this is bound to make Lou Dobbs' head explode: A shortage of foreign crab-pickers in Maryland is forcing the seafood industry there to consider using state prisoners to do the hard, nasty, low-paying work.

"At issue is finding workers willing to spend their days picking the meat from pile after pile of steamed crabs so the product can be packaged for sale in little plastic tubs," writes the Baltimore Sun's Stephanie Desmon.

For years, crab processors have employed Mexican workers on H2B visas as pickers. They work for six months over the summer then return home. But demand for temporary, seasonal workers across the country has left Maryland's crab industry shorthanded.

In the past, Maryland's congressional delegation has been able to get special provisions enacted to get workers to Maryland. Apparently, they are stymied this year by anti-immigrant sentiment. As Desmon notes, "critics of H2B say the foreigners depress wages for local workers, while others argue the temporary visas make it more difficult to focus attention on the need for broad immigration reform."

Such is the logic of the anti-immigration crowd. So nobody does the work, and a whole industry suffers. Or hires criminals.