THREAD: This is where I'll be keeping articles and excerpts re the Trump Administration's changes to the H2B Temporary Non Agricultural Workers Program and how those changes are hurting American businesses and harming the economy. (1) 
2/ Devine's KY landscaping business lost a $100K account in 2017 because of a manpower shortage. He fears he may lose his business if he can't get foreign workers. He also wonders why Mar a Lago & Trump's Ferry Point golf course get all their seasonal workers, but not him
3/ Ken Monin's construction company almost went bankrupt last year when their seasonal workers' visas were held up and their arrival delayed several months. He says if he doesn't find enough manpower this summer, both he and his 3 American employees will lose their livelihoods.
4/ Jim McFarlane, owner of a Lexington KY landscaping co, said the 3 foreign seasonal workers applied for never arrived. He's given up & doesn't know where he'll find workers. "To find someone playing politics with it when it can only help the economy seems kind of crazy to me."
5/ But its not just landscapers and construction companies. "Maryland Crab Houses Lose 40 Percent of Workers Due to Trump Visa Lottery" wjla.com/news/local/mar…
6/ Insufficient guest worker visa numbers and the Trump lottery system cost the crab industry 40% of the needed workers. "The result is uncertainty for businesses such as crab processors. . ." Anyone think business uncertainty is good for the economy? msn.com/en-us/news/us/…
7/ "The guest worker visas are coveted by landscapers, tourist businesses and seafood processors, especially with the U.S. unemployment rate so at a 17-year low." Note to John Kelly: there's room in our economy for rural, non-English speaking immigrants who assimilate just fine.
8/ "Opponents of the visa program, including some in the Trump administration, say businesses should try harder to hire locally and raise wages if necessary." Gen. Kelly should tell Trump that: he got 70 visas for Mar a Lago (& more for his NY golf course) townandcountrymag.com/society/politi…
9/ Anyone else wonder why Mar a Lago doubled membership fees but still can't afford to pay US workers? Yet somehow Trump managed to get guest worker visas for all his properties while important industries can't. Wait, guess its not just me wondering.
10/ "The unexpected worker shortage for some businesses has upended the economy...Processors that don't have pickers aren't buying crabs. Those crabbers aren't buying bait fish from local fishermen. The combination has slashed sales...to its lowest level in six years"
11/ "It trickles all the way down the line," said fisherman Burt Lewis, who normally sells a large amount of menhaden to Russell Hall Seafood [a visa lottery loser], but recently laid off a crewmember. . .The Mexican labor creates jobs for Americans. It's creating my job."
12/ "At the other end of the supply chain, wholesalers and retailers in places like Baltimore are scrambling to get locally sourced jumbo lump crabmeat. They are paying sharply higher prices amid reduced availability. . ." Those shortages and price increases pass on to consumers.
13/ A lottery loser described the system as unfair and scary. "You can't prepare yourself for the upcoming season by waiting to see if your name gets picked." The labor shortage is "hitting us real hard" and means less work for local truckers and and fewer sales for vendors.
14/ Another lottery loser was left with 104 unfilled vacancies. They estimate lost sales of $20,000/day & worry they "might lose some customers for good if she can't ramp up production soon." That's lost revenue for her company & community plus local, state & federal taxes gone.
15/ But if you think this Trump administration failure is new or unique to this year, or that the Republican controlled Congress doesn't share in this failure, read this 2017 article: "Texas Shrimpers Lack Seasonal Foreign Workers as Gulf Season Looms" houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…
16/ In 2017, the manager of a 15 boat Texas shrimp fleet said if the Trump administration didn't approve seasonal visas for their deckhands, they'd be short 30 workers when the season started. To have none of their seasonal workers at that point left them "dead in the water".
17/ In 2017, part of the problem was that while Congress normally approves a visa cap exemption, in December 2016, the Republican controlled Congress failed to do so. In May, then Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly was authorized to grant additional foreign workers visas.
18/ Yes, that's the same John Kelly, now Trump's Chief of Staff, who just said some US immigrants are rural, uneducated, unskilled, don't speak English or assimilate well. Seems like they'd assimilate perfectly well into the shrimping industry doesn't it?
19/ Then HS Secretary John Kelly said they would issue additional visas at the END of July. Problem 1: "Texas shrimpers said they need their H2B workers before the Texas season opens in mid July...More than 2/3rds of the annual production is caught between July and October. . ."
20/ Problem 2: "But before these returning workers receive visas, they must first pass an interview at an American consulate in their home country, delaying their return for up to a month." So they might not arrive until the end of September. For a season that ended in October.
21/ And yet the only people eligible for these additional visas were RETURNING workers who worked at least 1 of the 3 previous years. Shrimpers would seek visas only for the most reliable, longterm workers. Yet they & their workers were made to endure add'l bureaucratic delays.
22/ The Texas Shrimp Association said "During the peak season, these boats catch approximately $4,000 worth of shrimp per night, so every night the boat is not fishing, we are losing money." Among those losing money: the boat owner, the captain, the rig man and the main header.
23/ "Returning workers are a safe bet, and businesses count on their skill deheading shrimp. . .well worth the expense..." & "There's a misconception that we're looking for cheap labor. . .That's not it. We're looking for quality labor, because we get paid on quality of shrimp."
24/ "The industry supports direct and peripheral jobs, including welders and technicians, and scores of jobs in the packaging facilities that await the crustaceans scooped from the Gulf." (And truckers, shippers, vendors providing boxes, etc.)
25/ "Each time a boat crew sets out to sea, it spends about $2,000 just for groceries purchased from local grocers. Should any boats leave the market, it would send a ripple through the coastal economy, and drains taxable assets from local coffers."
26/ Again, in 2017, Homeland Security said it would issue additional guest work visas at the end of July. On July 17th: "Even if the worker visas were approved today, by the time they were processed, the main Texas shrimp season would be almost over." cbsnews.com/news/h2b-visa-…
27/ In 2017, shrimpers couldn't fill 3/4 of their seasonal jobs. Headless shrimp are easier to package and freeze. Shrimp with their heads on lose half their value. (So shrimp that could have been worth $4,000 a day were only worth $2,000 with heads.) news.vice.com/en_us/article/…
28/ What was the impact to the Texas economy in 2017? Shrimp boats lost up to $6,000/day when forced to return to port (or when they couldn't leave the dock in the 1st place). The industry lost $5 million a day. Shrimping added $750 million to Texas' GDP. houstonchronicle.com/news/houston-t…
