Immigration Policy Changes Continue to Hurt Maryland Families and Businesses

Maryland families and communities are feeling the impact of the Trump administration’s recent immigration policy changes. The administration’s ongoing efforts to curtail both legal and undocumented immigration to the U.S. have made it more difficult for businesses to obtain visas for their workers and will break apart families by forcing immigrants who have spent decades building lives in the U.S. to leave or face deportation. Young immigrants working and studying in Maryland under Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) also continue to face uncertain futures, even after a recent legal victory that could force Homeland Security to resume accepting new DACA applications.

These policy changes won’t support vibrant communities or a healthy economy in Maryland.

A win for “Dreamers” is a win for Maryland

Even though the Trump administration announced the end of DACA last year, a series of federal court rulings have served as stopgap measures to keep the program going. However the future of the program and its enrollees, also known as Dreamers, remains uncertain. Seven states have initiated a lawsuit to end DACA. Meanwhile Dreamers continue to pursue education, build careers, and contribute to Maryland’s communities with the hope that they won’t lose everything they have worked for.

Maryland is home to 24,000 young adults who are eligible for DACA. They contribute more than $40 million per year in state and local taxes, bring diversity to Maryland’s universities, and are valued workers in a broad range of industries. As more and more Baby Boomers reach retirement age, young immigrants are an increasingly vital component of Maryland’s workforce.

DACA-eligible young adults have spent most of their lives in the U.S. Deporting these young adults to places where they spent only a few of their earliest years, where they may have no support network and few economic and academic opportunities, is not only unfair to them but also is damaging to the Maryland communities that currently benefit culturally and economically from welcoming immigrants. It is critical that Congress pass a permanent fix for DACA and give Dreamers a path to citizenship or permanent residency.

Visa change leaves Maryland crab houses struggling but expanding the program may not be the answer

The Trump administration this year distributed H-2B nonagricultural guest worker visas via a lottery, instead of the typical first-come, first-served award system. As a result, many of the Eastern Shore’s crab houses did not receive the visas they need to bring in seasonal workers from Mexico and elsewhere to pick crabs. The change comes as demand for the visas has increased in response to declining unemployment rates over the past five years.

Without more workers to pick crabs, the price of Maryland crab meat is likely to skyrocket this year. Sales of small female crabs that are less desirable for steaming could also drop by $10 million or more, a blow to lower Chesapeake Bay communities where larger crabs are less common. Located in remote communities, crab houses have difficulty recruiting U.S. citizens for seasonal work. Rep. Andy Harris has stated that 15,000 more H-2B visas will be released soon, again distributed in a lottery, but more guest worker visas may not be the best answer.

Migrant workers face frequent mistreatment by recruiters and employers. While in the U.S., they lack adequate access to healthcare and often rent substandard housing owned by their employers. After paying their own way to the U.S., they are paid a piece rate based on how many pounds of meat they can produce each day, and if they aren’t able to pick fast enough to earn Maryland’s minimum hourly wage, they could be fired and forced to return home. With few other options to make a living and little legal recourse in the U.S., these workers are easily victimized.

Workplace standards should be applied evenly to all workers regardless of their citizenship. Allowing migrants with H-2B visas to move freely between employers in the same industry and access legal services to address workplace violations would help to improve conditions, as would barring employers with poor records from participating in the program and enforcing housing standards for rentals offered to migrant workers.

Releasing additional visas won’t be an immediate solution for the crab houses that did not receive them this earlier year, since the delay would mean that workers would arrive too late into the season. Though making more visas available next year would help crab houses access the pickers they need for that season, it would be better for workers and our economy if Maryland’s iconic industry offers good workplace standards to all workers. Before lawmakers consider expanding the program for next year’s season, reforms should be made to protect the health and livelihoods of the workers who receive visas.

Honduran immigrants are next to lose Temporary Protected Status after decades in the US

Honduran immigrants will lose Temporary Protected Status effective January 5, 2020.

There are 1,900 Honduran TPS holders living in Maryland, and many have lived in the U.S. for most of their lives. These Marylanders have U.S-born children; work legally in some of Maryland’s fastest-growing industries, like construction and food service; own houses; and pay taxes. TPS status was also canceled for Salvadoran immigrants earlier this year, and more than 18,000 Salvadorans living and working in Maryland will lose their work authorization and face deportation next year.

The decision to terminate the Temporary Protected Status designation for immigrants who have been in the U.S. legally for two decades, will tear apart families, forcing parents to leave behind their U.S. citizen children and return to countries where they may face economic hardship and safety concerns. In addition, an estimated Maryland will lose an estimate $1.2 billion in state GDP without TPS holders from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti, who are also losing protected status.

House Republicans are currently petitioning to initiate a floor debate on four immigration proposals, and there could be a vote as soon as early June. Lawmakers should advance policies to give Dreamers a path to citizenship, bring stability to our economy and workforce while protecting workers, and prevent unnecessarily breaking apart families who have built their lives here.