April 9, 2020 — Thousands of people are recruited to Maryland each year to become the crab pickers, landscapers, caregivers and others whose work is essential for maintenance of the state’s seasonal economy.
While some H-2B visa holders will be out of work due to not being designated essential in the fight against COVID-19, others are part of essential supply chains that must continue to function. But at a time when the U.S. government is warning against all international travel, these frontline workers are risking their health and finances without the same protections Americans are afforded, migrant workers’ rights experts say.
“It’s an illness attacking everyone and anyone,” said Sulma Guzmán, policy director for Centro de los Derechos del Migrante Inc., a Maryland migrant rights advocacy organization. “To be a migrant worker that is leaving their home communities, their family, and coming to the U.S. to work, medical catastrophe would be very, very bad.”
About 450 visa-holding workers are needed by Maryland seafood processors this year, but employers have worried federal visa caps would keep them from getting enough workers. Those who still chose to come to the U.S. started their six-month work contracts April 1.